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WITH THE JUD^ANS IN THE 
PALESTINE CAMPAIGN 



WITH THE JUDyEANS IN 
THE PALESTINE CAMPAIGN 



By Lieut.-Col. J; H'. PATTERSON, D.S.O. 

it ' 

. Author of : " The Man-Eaters of Tsavo," 
« In the Grip of The Nyika," 
" With the Zionists in Gallipoli." 



WITH A MAP AND 22 ILLUSTRATIONS. 



LONDON: HUTCHINSON & CO. 
PATERNOSTER ROW : : : : 



if 



eJ 






PREFACE 



The formation of a Battalion of Jews for service in 
the British Army is an event without precedent in our 
annals, and the part played by such a unique unit is 
assured of a niche in history owing to the fact that it 
fought in Palestine, not only for the British cause, but 
also for the Restoration of the Jewish people to the 
Promised Land. 

In writing the following narrative, my object has 
been to give a faithful account of the doings of this 
Jewish Battalion while it was under my command. 

I am much indebted to Captain H. Davis, the Rev. 
L. A. Falk, Mr. Bendov of Jerusalem, and Canon 
Parfit for permission to reproduce the photographs 
illustrating this book, which add considerably to its 
interest. 

J.H.P. 

London, 1922. 



CONTENTS 



Introduction 


page 
vii 


CHAPTER I. 
The Balfour Declaration 


.. 13 


CHAPTER n. 
The Sanballats 


.. 18 


CHAPTER HI. 
The Formation of the Jewish Regiment 


.. 23 


CHAPTER IV. 
Training at Plymouth 


. . 30 


CHAPTER V. 
The Kosher Problem 


• . 39 


CHAPTER VI. 
We Set Out FOR Palestine 


. . 43 


CHAPTER VII. 
Back in the Land of Bondage 


.. 51 


CHAPTER Vin. 
The Feast OF THE Passover 


. . 62 


CHAPTER IX. 
We Set Out FOR THE Front 


. . 68 


CHAPTER X. 
The Nablus Front 


. . 79 


CHAPTER XI. 
We March to the Jordan Valley 


.. 91 


CHAPTER XII. 

Our Position in the Mellahah 


. . 103 


CHAPTER XIII. 
Life IN THE Mellahah 


.. m 


CHAPTER XIV. 
We Win Our First Honours 


..118 


CHAPTER XV. 

Capture of the Umm esh Shert Ford , . 


. . 125 


CHAPTER XVI. 
The Lost Transport Wagons 


..131 


CHAPTER XVII. 
We Go up to Ramoth Gilead| 


..137 


CHAPTER XVIII. 

The Crown of Victory . . . . *^fr; . . 


. . 144 



IV 



Contents 



CHAPTER XIX. 

The Strategical Value of Palestine . . 

CHAPTER XX. 
Hospital Scandal at Jerusalem 

CHAPTER XXI. 
Life at Ludd 

CHAPTER XXII. 
At Rafa 

CHAPTER XXIII. 
Return of the Anzacs 

CHAPTER XXIV. 
A Red-Letter Day 

CHAPTER XXV. 

Jewish Soldiers are Forbidden to Enter the Holy City 

CHAPTER XXVI. 
The Great Boxing Competition 

CHAPTER XXVII. 

BiR Salem — An Exciting Race . . 

CHAPTER XXVIII 
Damascus 

CHAPTER XXIX. 
Among the Philistines 

CHAPTER XXX. 
The Fall of Goliath 

CHAPTER XXXI. 
Protests 

CHAPTER XXXII. 

A Trip TO the Sea of Galilee .. 

CHAPTER XXXIII, 
Strange Methods of the E. E. F. Staff 

CHAPTER XXXIV. 
The First Jud^ans 

CHAPTER XXXV. 
The Jerusalem Pogrom 

CHAPTER XXXVI. 

The Dawn 

Appendices 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



LiEUT.-CoL. J. H. Patterson, D.S.O. 

" I Had an Able and Enthusiastic Staff " 

Lieut. Vladimir Jabotinsky 

The Rev. L. A. Falk 

Jerusalem 

The Battalion on Parade 

Tomb of Rachel, near Bethlehem 

Choir of the Jewish Regiment . . 

The Wailing Wall at Jerusalem 

The Jerusalem- Jericho Road 

Near the Wadi Kelt 

The Auja (" A pleasant, swiftly flowing 
streamlet ") 

Es Salt (The Ancient Ramoth Gilead) . . 

Roman Arch at Amman 

In the Old Citadel at Amman . . 

Part of the Great Amphitheatre at Amman 

Circassian Cart at Amman 

" Here the Tents of Israel were Pitched " 

Group of Officers at Rafa 

Ruins of Baalbek 

My Charger Betty 

Ruins of the Old City of Tiberias 



Frontispiece 
Facing page 34 

44 
46 
62 
64 
6t 
70 
92 
96 
96 

140 
140 
144 
144 
146 
146 

174 
180 
210 
210 
244 



INTRODUCTION 



IN the darkest days of the War, the British 
Cabinet decided that it would be good policy 
to create a Jewish Regiment, and accordingly, in 
August, 191 7, the first Jewish Battalion was formed. 

From that day forth, as a matter of duty and loyalty 
to King and Country, it was clearly incumbent on all 
those in authority to treat this new unit with justice, 
and do everything in their power to make it a success. 

It is to be deplored that this Jewish Battalion — this 
ewe lamb of Israel — did not receive, while on Active 
Service in the Holy Land, that measure of justice and 
fair play that was its due. 

In common with the vast majority of my countrymen 
I have the " fair play " sense strongly developed. I 
am always prone to be on the side of the under dog — 
more especially when I see that the poor devil is getting 
more kicks than in all fairness are his due. In Pales- 
tine, unfortunately, I was constantly called upon to 
ward off unfair blows aimed at the Jewish Battalion 
under my command by certain members of the local staff 
of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force. 

I have passed over many of our sufferings in silence, 
and no record of them will be found in this book, but 
I am afraid they have left an indelible mark in the mind 



viii Introduction 



and heart of every man who served in the Jewish Bat- 
talion under my command, and I fear that the evil 
effects of the local Military Administration will 
reverberate throughout Palestine for many a long year. 

But before I proceed further, let me first of all make 
it clearly understood that I am not a Jew, — indeed, at 
the outbreak of the Great War I knew nothing of this 
ancient people, always excepting what I had read about 
them in the Bible, and other Jewish books. My first 
contact with Jews was in the Gallipoli campaign, where 
I was sent in command of a Corps composed of Zionists 
who had escaped from Palestine at the outbreak of 
war and taken service with the British Forces. Pre- 
sumably because I had had this experience, I was 
appointed to the command of the first Jewish Infantry 
unit raised for service with the British Army. The 
career of such a unique unit is bound to be closely 
followed by all Jews, while it would not surprise me if 
the historian of the future seizes upon this dramatic 
appearance of the Jewish warrior, fighting for the re- 
demption of Israel under the banner of England, as 
one of the most interesting episodes of the great World 
War. 

Unfortunately for us, with a few honourable excep- 
tions, the local Staff of the E.E.F. were " troublers of 
Israel." Instead of furthering the policy of the Home 
Government by holding out a helping hand to this 
new unit, on the contrary every obstacle was placed 
in its way. 

In our times of tribulation in the Holy Land, my 
thoughts often went back to the Dardanelles, and I was 



Introduction ix 



heartened and cheered by the remembrance of the 
vastly different treatment meted out to the Jewish 
soldiers by the Staff in Gallipoli. Sir Ian Hamilton 
had vision enough to foresee what a tremendous force 
would be won over to the cause of England by dealing 
justly with Israel. In the Mediterranean Expedi- 
tionary Force the attitude was essentially British. I 
regret I cannot say the same of the Staff of the 
Egyptian Expeditionary Force in 191 8 and 1919. 

I am happy to be able to put on record that the Bat- 
talion was treated fairly and justly all the time it was 
stationed in England. The Staff at Plymouth always 
held out a helping hand when needed, and we 
embarked for Egypt with the blessing of the War 
Office, and of the Adjutant-General, Sir Nevil Mac- 
ready, who told us before we sailed that it was his aim 
to form a Jewish Brigade, and that he was writing to 
the Commander-in-Chief of the E.E.F. to recommend 
that this should be done as soon as our numbers justified 
such a step. 

I felt that the Adjutant-General had confided a great 
trust to me when I was selected for the command of this 
Jewish unit. It was a complete change from the com- 
mand of an Irish Battalion, but the Irishman and the 
Jew have much in common — temperament, generosity, 
love of children, devotion to parents, readiness to help 
those down on their luck, and, be it noted, great per- 
sonal bravery. These qualities will probably not 
appear out of place to my readers so far as the Irish- 
man is concerned, but I imagine many will be surprised 
when they hear that they also apply to the Jew, It is 



Introduction 



true, however, and so should be more widely known. 
The soul-stirring deeds on the battlefield of such heroes 
as Judas Maccabaeus, Bar Kochba, and many others can 
never be forgotten. 

I had one fear when I took over command of the 
Judaeans, and that was that I might not be able to do 
them justice. I felt that, if a suitable Jewish officer 
could be found, it would be more appropriate that he 
should have the honour of leading these soldiers 
of Israel in the struggle for the redemption of Palestine ; 
but, although I publicly stated that I should be glad to 
see a Jewish officer appointed to the command, no one 
came forward, and I was left with the whole weight 
of this great responsibility to the Jewish people on my 
shoulders. I therefore made up my mind, from the 
moment I took command, that, so far as was humanly 
possible, the Jewish Battalion should be brought 
through its fiery ordeal with honour. 

It was unfortunate for the new Regiment, and doubly 
unfortunate for the Jewish people in Palestine, as this 
narrative will show, that the attitude of the local Staff 
was diametrically opposed to the declared policy of His 
Majesty's Government, which had announced to the 
world, in the famous Balfour Declaration, that Palestine 
should once again become a National Home for the 
Jewish people. In the face of this British announce- 
ment, certain officials in the Holy Land acted as if this 
epoch-making Declaration were nothing but a mere 
" scrap of paper." 

When I observed the vain strivings of these men, 
and remembered the Promise to Israel, I called to mind 



Introduction xi 



the saying of Gamaliel, the great Rabbi, "If this worlc 
be of men it will come to naught, but if it be of God, 
ye cannot overthrow it." 

This local anti- Jewish policy eventually culminated 
in the Jerusalem pogrom, described at the close of this 
book, when, under British rule, murderous native mobs 
ran riot, practically unchecked, for nearly three days 
within the walls of the City. 

This deplorable outrage at last opened the eyes of the 
Imperial Authorities to what was going on in Palestine, 
with the result that the Military Administration was 
abolished. A competent civil Governor replaced the 
Military Administrator, and Sir Herbert Samuel was 
sent out to pour oil and wine into the wounds which the 
unfortunate Jewish inhabitants had received, and to 
carry out the declared policy of England as announced 
in the Balfour Declaration. 



MAP 

Showing chief places mentioned 
in the book. 

Railways. 



MEDITERRANEAN 
SEA 




SIN^I DESERT 



35° Longitude East of Greenwich 



WITH THE JUD^ANS IN THE 
PALESTINE CAMPAIGN 

CHAPTER I. 

The Balfour Declaration. 

IN the early days of 191 7 the outlook for the Allied 
Powers was particularly black and menacing. 
England, the mainstay in the great struggle, was in 
deadly peril, for, just about this time, the ruthless Sub- 
marine campaign was at its height and our shipping losses 
were appalling. 

The Central Powers, with startling rapidity, had 
crushed and overrun Belgium, Serbia, and Roumania, 
and a large slice of France was in the grip of the invader. 
It was a case of stalemate with Italy, while Russia, the 
Colossus with the feet of clay, was in the throes of a 
Revolution and lost to the Allies. 

Turkey, the so-called " sick man of Europe," was 
found not only able to " sit up and take nourishment," 
but strong enough to administer some nasty knocks to 
the surgeon, as we discovered to our cost in Gallipoli, 
and other places in the Near East. 

The Great Republic of the West did indeed throw 
in her lot with us in April, 191 7, but many perilous 
months would have to elapse before she could pull her 
full weight, or even make her enormous power felt to 
any appreciable extent on the battlefields of Europe. 

At such a moment as this it was of the very greatest 
importance that the world should be carefully scanned, 

13 6 



14 With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign 

and every available ideal and policy made use of, which 
could be of advantage to our righteous cause. 

The happy inspiration thereupon seized upon our 
Ministers to win over to the side of the Allies the teem- 
ing millions of the Children of Israel scattered through- 
out the w6rld. 

The restoration of these people to the land of their 
forefathers had long been engaging the thoughts of man- 
kind, and our Statesmen now felt that the time was ripe 
for this age-long issue to be brought to fruition. 

It was of course known to the leading Zionists that 
the British Government was considering the policy of 
making a pronouncement in favour of the Jewish 
people, and many of the leaders of Zionism, such as 
Dr. Weizmann, Mr. Sokolow, Mr. Jabotinsky, Mr. 
Joseph Cowen, etc., lost no opportunity of pressing 
home the importance of winning Jewry, the world over, 
to England's side, by declaring boldly for a Jewish 
Palestine. 

It was felt by many that the right and proper way 
for Jewry to help England was by raising a Jewish 
Legion to aid in the redemption of Palestine, and of 
this movement the leading spirit was Vladimir Jabotin- 
sky, a distinguished orator, author, and journalist. 

Ever since the beginning of the War this remarkable 
man, a Jew from Russia, had carried on a vigorous 
propaganda on behalf of England. At his own ex- 
pense, he had founded a newspaper in Copenhagen, 
and distributed it broadcast among Jews in Russia, 
Poland, neutral countries, America, etc. 

His propaganda was of great value to the Allies, for 



The Balfour Declaration 15 

the Jews naturally hated Russia, owing to their harsh 
treatment and persecution in that country, and it was not 
until Jabotinsky set to work that they perceived that 
their real interests lay with the Allies. 

To show a good example to others, he enlisted as a 
private in the 20th Battalion London Regiment, where 
he gathered round him a platoon composed principally 
of men who had recently been serving in Gallipoli in 
the Zion Mule Corps. 

From his humble position in the ranks he bombarded 
the Prime Minister, and the Secretaries of State for 
War and Foreign Affairs in this country ; he sent emis- 
saries to America, North and South, to Russia, Poland, 
the Caucasus, etc., and when, in July, 191 7, the Gov- 
ernment declared their intention of creating a Jewish 
Regiment, he had everything in train for the formation 
of a legion at least 50,000 strong. 

I mention this here as one instance of this gallant 
officer's efforts for England, and I will ask the reader to 
make a mental note of it, for before this narrative is 
ended it will be my painful duty to show how Jabotinsky 
was rewarded for all his invaluable services to the British 
cause. 

The Government policy towards world Jewry was 
brought to a head by a vigorous Zionist offensive, and 
resulted in the creation of a Jewish Battalion in August, 
191 7, followed a little later by the famous Balfour Dec- 
laration in favour of a National Home for the Jewish 
people in Palestine. 

This bold and wise pronouncement of British policy 
was of great and far-reaching importance, and is re- 



1 6 With the Judseans in the Palestine Campaign 

garded by Jewry throughout the world as their Charter 
of Liberty. 

It is embodied in the following letter to Lord 
Rothschild : — 

Foreign Office, 
2nd November, 191 7. 
Dear Lord Rothschild, 

I have much pleasure in conveying to you on 
behalf of H.M.'s Government, the following 
Declaration of sympathy with Jewish Zionist as- 
pirations, which has been submitted to and 
approved by the Cabinet : 

His Majesty's Government view with 
favour the establishment in Palestine of a 
National Home for the Jewish people, 
and will use their best endeavours to 
facilitate the achievement of this object, 
it being clearly understood that nothing shall be 
done which may prejudice the civil and religious 
rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Pales- 
tine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by 
Jews in any other country. 

I should be grateful if you would bring this 
Declaration to the knowledge of the Zionist 
Federation. 

Yours sincerely, 

(Signed) Arthur James Balfour. 
This was, perhaps, the most momentous Declaration 
made throughout the War, and it derived a special sig- 
nificance from the fact that it was made just at the time 
when the first definite steps were being taken towards 



The Balfour Declaration 17 

freeing Palestine from the yoke of the Turk. It was 
received by practically all sections of the British Press 
with the most cordial approval. 

By pious Jews it was regarded as little short of the 
Voice of God, bringing their long-cherished aspirations 
within sight of fulfilment. 

All down the centuries from the time of the Disper- 
sion it has been the dream of the Jew that one day he 
would be restored to his ancestral home. In his exile 
the age-long cry of his stricken soul has ever been 

next year in Jerusalem." 

Christians too have always believed in the fulfilment 
of prophecy, and the Restoration of the Jewish people 
is of no little interest to them, so it can be imagined with 
what feelings of joy and gratitude the masses of the 
Jewish people looked upon this promise of England, 
holding out as it did the prospect of the realization of 
their dearest hope. Nothing like it has been known 
since the days of King Cyrus. It is not too much to 
say that this epoch-making Declaration uplifted the soul 
of Israel the world over. 

Sir Arthur Balfour may not live to see the full fruits of 
his famous pronouncement, but prophecy will assuredly 
be fulfilled, and his name will go down for all time, 
second only to that of Cyrus, in the Chronicles of Israel. 

Jeremiah's prophecy on the Restoration of Israel has 
a wonderful significance in these days : " Hear the 
word of the Lord, O ye nations, and declare it in the 
isles afar off, and say. He that scattered Israel will 
gather him and keep him, as a Shepherd doth his 
flock." 



CHAPTER II. 

The Sanbai^lats. 

ON the 27th July, 191 7, while I was stationed at 
the Curragh in command of a Battalion of the 
Royal Dublin Fusiliers, I got a telegram from the War 
Office ordering me to report there and commence the 
organization of the Jewish Legion about to be raised, 
so 1 set out forthwith for London. 

On getting my instructions from Major-General R. 
Hutchison, the Director of Organization, he told me, 
among other things, that a certain Sergeant Jabotinsky 
would probably be most useful to me, for he was a very 
keen worker and an ardent advocate of the Jewish 
Regiment. I told him that I had already met Jabotin- 
sky, and I knew his assistance would be invaluable, and 
requested that he might be attached to me for duty at 
once. 

I was given a room at the War Office Annexe which 
had been taken over from the National Liberal Club. 
Here I was joined in due course by Jabotinsky, now a 
full-fledged sergeant. 

We had hardly begun to move in the matter of re- 
cruiting for the Jewish Regiment, when I became aware 
that in certain quarters of influential English Jewry there 

18 



The Sanballats 19 



was violent hostility to Zionist aspirations, and also to 
the very idea of a Jewish Regiment. 

I therefore felt that, in order to clear the air, it would 
be necessary to hold a meeting of those who were in 
favour of, as well as those who were opposed to, the 
formation of a Jewish Regiment, and try to induce the 
latter to cease obstructing a policy which had already 
been decided upon by the British Government, and to 
give me their help in making the proposed Regiment a 
success. 

A meeting of representative men on both sides was 
held at the War Office on the 8th August, 1917- Among 
those present were : Lord Rothschild, Major Lionel de 
Rothschild, Major Neil Primrose, Captain Ormsby 
Gore, M.P., Mr. Sebag Montefiore, Dr. Weizmann, 
Mr. Joseph Cowen, Dr. Eder, Captain Salaman, 
R.A.M.C., Mr. M. J. Landa, Mr. L. J. Greenberg, 
the Rev. S. Lipson (Senior Jewish Chaplain to the 
Forces in England), and Sergeant Jabotinsky — about 
twenty in all. Colonel Sir Mark Sykes, M.P. (whose 
untimely death I deeply lament), and Lieut. -Colonel 
L. S. Amery, M.P., who were then Secretaries to the 
War Cabinet, also attended, both being warm friends of 
the movement. 

I briefly addressed the meeting and explained that I 
had called them together to give me their advice and 
assistance in the formation of the Jewish Regiment. 

I was, of course, aware that there was somew^hat of a 
cleavage amongst the Jews on this question, but the 
bitterness and hostility shown was quite a revelation to 
me. I could not understand how any Jew could fail to 

B2 



20 With the Judseans in the Palestine Campaign 



grasp this Heaven-sent opportunity and do all in his 
power to further the efforts of the British Government 
on behalf of the Jewish people. 

Imagine my surprise, therefore, when certain of the 
Jews in opposition vigorously denounced the formation 
of a Jewish Regiment, and equally vigorously damned 
the aspirations of the Zionists ! 

Dr. Weizmann gave a slashing reply to the Sanballats 
from the Zionist point of view which cut the ground 
from under their feet ; and Jabotinsky, in his address for 
the cause he had at heart, lifted the debate to a level 
immeasurably above the point of view of his opponents. 
A few others spoke, and then I again addressed the 
meeting and said I thought it was a good thing the 
Government had not left it to the community to form a 
Jewish Regiment, for I saw that they would never agree ; 
but, as the Government had already made up its mind, 
and was determined to have a Jewish Legion of some 
kind, I begged them to lay aside all differences and help 
me to make a success of a movement which was bound 
to affect Jews, one way or another, throughout the 
world. In conclusion, I said I would rather know who 
were my friends, and asked all those who did not intend 
to further this scheme, which after all was a scheme pro- 
pounded and adopted by the British Government, to 
retire. Not a man moved. 

While I was making my address a note was passed 
to me from hand to hand. On opening it I read, " Can 
you dine with me this evening? I should like to join 
your new Battalion. N.P." I little knew when I 
scribbled back : " So sorry, am engaged," what serious 



The Sanballats 21 

consequences hung on my answer, for I feel sure that 
Neil Primrose would not have been cut off in his prime 
had I dined with him that night and * ' recruited ' ' him 
for the Jewish Battalion, but I never saw this very gallant 
officer again. He went out to Palestine soon afterwards, 
where he met his death while leading his men in a charge. 

To return to the meeting : when I found that not 
one of our opponents was prepared to declare himself 
an open enemy of the policy of H.M.'s Government, I 
said that as the formation of the various Committees con- 
nected with the Regiment was an essentially Jewish 
matter I would now retire, and I asked Lord Roth- 
schild to take the Chair. 

Within half an hour I was summoned by Brigadier- 
General Sir Auckland Geddes, as he then was. The 
General appeared to be extremely flurried and annoyed. 
Apparently, immediately after I had left the meeting, 
two gentlemen had gone straight from it to Sir Auckland, 
and made a bitter attack on me for having, as they said, 
held a Zionist Meeting in the War Office. 

I assured him that there was no attempt at holding a 
Zionist meeting, but that a number of representative 
Jews and others had been called to help me in carrying 
out the policy of the War Office, and I pointed out that 
it was entirely due to the two gentlemen who complained, 
that any question of Zionism had been raised. 

Why any Jew should be an anti-Zionist passes my 
comprehension, for the Zionist ideal in no way interferes 
with the rights and privileges of those fortunate Jews 
who have found happy homes in friendly countries, but 
aims at establishing a national home for those less happy 



22 With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign 

ones, who, against their will, are forced to live in exile, 
and who have never ceased to yearn for the land promised 
to their forefather Abraham and his seed for ever. 

Yet I will have to show that, as there were Sanbal- 
lats* who bitterly opposed the restoration in the days 
of King Artaxerxes 2,500 years ago, so there were 
modern Sanballats who bitterly opposed the restoration 
in the days of King George. 

* See Nehemiah, Chapters 3 and 4. 



CHAPTER III. 

The Formation of the Jewish Regiment. 

ON the 23rd August, 191 7, the formation of the 
Jewish Regiment " was officially announced 
in the London Gazette, and I was appointed to the com- 
mand of a Battalion. 

At the same time it was officially intimated that a 
special Jewish name and badge would be given to the 
Battalions of this Regiment. 

On hearing of this determination the Sanballats im- 
mediately got very busy. Heads were put together, 
and letters written up and down the land to all and 
sundry who were likely to serve their purpose, with the 
result that, on the 30th August, 191 7, a deputation 
waited upon Lord Derby (then Secretary of State for 
War), for the purpose of making representations 
against the proposed name and badge of the Jewish 
Regiment, and, in fact, against the formation of any 
such unit as a Jewish Battalion. 

One member of this Deputation went so far as to 
represent to Lord Derby that Lord Rothschild, the head 
of the celebrated Jewish family, to whom, as representing 
the Jewish people, Mr. Balfour later on addressed the 
famous declaration, was also opposed to the formation 
of a Jewish Regiment. 

Lord Rothschild assured me that this was not the 

23 



24 With the Judseans in the Palestine Campaign 

case ; for, once it became the policy of the British 
Government to form a Jewish Regiment, he felt bound 
as a patriotic Jew to back it up and do all in his power to 
make it a success. No little thanks are due to Lord 
Rothschild for the way he devoted himself to the comfort 
and welfare of the Jewish Battalions, from the first day 
they were formed. 

The result of the Deputation was that the name 

Jewish Regiment " was abolished, and no Jewish 
badge was sanctioned. All Jewish Battalions raised 
were to be called " Royal Fusiliers." 

But our worthy friends might have saved themselves 
all the trouble they took, and the trouble they gave to 
the War Ministry, because, from the moment that the 
battalions were formed, although they were known 
officially as Royal Fusiliers, yet unofficially, everywhere, 
and by every person, they were known solely as the 
Jewish Battalions. 

Lord Derby made the mistake of thinking that these 
few rich men represented the Jewish masses. A greater 
mistake was never made, for, from my own experience, 
I can vouch for the fact that they are altogether out of 
touch with the thoughts and feelings of the vast majority 
of the Jewish people. 

What a different tale I should have to tell had men 
such as these played up to the policy of England. Had 
their vision only been broader, they would have said 
among themselves, " This is a policy we do not like. 
It may affect us adversely, but it is the policy of 
England, and England in peril, and we must therefore 
bind ourselves together and make it a success." 



The Formation of the Jewish Regiment 25 

If they feared that these Jews from Russia and Poland 
would not worthily uphold Jewish traditions, they might 
have gone to the Secretary for War and told him their 
fears, and said that, as it was absolutely necessary for 
world Jewry that this experiment of creating Jewish 
Battalions should have a fair chance, they would request 
his aid in this matter, and ask that at least twenty-five 
per cent, of every battalion be composed of Jews from 
England, who, having seen service in France, would 
therefore give some necessary and valuable stiffening to 
these raw Jewish units. 

With such a stiffening, and a solid English Jewry at 
the back of the Jewish Regiment, what a triumphant 
page in Jewish history these battalions would have 
written ! 

Instead of this, every possible obstacle was placed in 
the way of success. Interested parties scoured the East 
end of London and the big provincial cities, advising 
young Jews not to enlist. Even in France the Jewish 
soldiers serving in the various units there were told by 
Jews who ought to have known better that they should 
on no account transfer. The result of this was that 
recruiting went on very slowly, and instead of being able 
to form a Jewish legion in the course of a few weeks, as 
could easily have been done out of the 40,000 Jewish 
young men in England alone, it took over four months 
to form even one battalion. 

I happened by chance one day to meet a prominent 
member of the Sanballat deputation in the War Office, 
and, in the course of conversation, I asked him why he 
objected so strongly to the formation of a Jewish Regi- 



26 With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign 

ment. He replied that he had no faith in the Russian 
Jews, and feared they would bring discredit on Jewry. 
I said that, from what I had seen in Gallipoli of the Jew 
from Russia, I had more faith in him than he had, and 
that I felt confident I could make him into a good soldier. 
He was kind enough to remark, " Well, perhaps under 
you they will turn out to be good soldiers, but then they 
might win Palestine, and I don't want to be sent there 
to live." I replied that his fears in this respect were 
entirely groundless. He remarked that he was not so 
sure about that, for if the Jews had a country of their 
own, pressure might be brought to bear upon them to 
go and live there — which clearly shows that these rich 
and fortunate Jews cannot have given much real thought 
to the question, for there is nothing in the Zionist move- 
ment to force anyone to live in Palestine, and it would 
be manifestly impossible to pack 14,000,000 of people 
within the narrow limits of their ancestral home. 

When my pessimistic friend told me that these foreign 
Jews were no good, and would bring discredit upon the 
best part of Jewry, I made a mental resolve that I would 
prove to him one day that his despised Jewish brethren, 
from Russia and elsewhere, would make as good soldiers, 
and as good all-round men, as those in any unit of the 
British Army. As these pages progress, and the his- 
tory of the 38th Jewish Battalion is unfolded before the 
eyes of the reader, it will be seen that my expectations 
were more than realised, for the Battalion drilled, 
marched, fought, and generally played the game as 
well as any battalion in the Army. 

It is a curious fact that, so far as I could gather, the 



The Formation of the Jewish Regiment 27 

Inner Actions Committee of the Zionist organization, 
with the honoured exception of Dr. Weizmann, looked 
on us with suspicion. The formation of Jewish Bat- 
talions did not appeal to them. How it was possible 
that the leaders of Zionism should not have grasped, 
and taken to their hearts, this gift of Jewish Battalions 
from the British Government, for the furtherance of 
their own ends, is one of the greatest examples of in- 
eptitude that have ever come within my experience. 
Here was a body of keen and enthusiastic men, devoting 
their lives to the restoration of the Holy Land to its right- 
ful owners, and yet they shied when the one essential 
weapon that could have given it to them was being vir- 
tually thrust into their hands. 

How different would have been the position of the 
Zionists at the Peace Conference after the Armistice 
was signed if they had been able to point proudly to 
50,000 Jewish troops in Palestine, instead of to the 
5 ,000 who were actually serving there at the close of the 
War. 

I know that Dr. Weizmann had vision enough to fore- 
see the strength which such a legion would give to his 
diplomacy, but unfortunately his colleagues on the 
Zionist Council did not see eye to eye with him in this 
matter until it was too late. 

I tried to do what in me lay with certain of the leaders 
of Zionism, and spent some time endeavouring to en- 
thuse a devoted and spiritual Jew who was deeply inter- 
ested in the Restoration ; indeed, I thought I had won 
him over to the cause of the legion, for at times during 
our conversation his face lit up at the possibilities un- 



28 With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign 

folded to him, but, alas, after I left him, I fear he fell 
away from grace ! 

Some of the Zionists, men such as Mr. Joseph Cowen, 
fully realised all the advantages which would accrue 
from a Jewish legion helping to win Palestine from the 
enemy, and these were eager workers towards this end. 

Vladimir Jabotinsky always believed in the proverb 
that the Lord helps those who help themselves, and, 
therefore, he felt that it was essential that a Jewish 
legion should fight for the redemption of Israel's 
ancient heritage. And it was well for Jewry that Jabo- 
tinsky was a chosen instrument, because, if no Jewish 
troops had fought in Palestine, and no Jewish graves 
could be seen in the Cemetery on the Mount of Olives, 
and in every Military Cemetery in Egypt and Palestine, 
it would have been, for all time, a reproach unto Israel, 
and I have grave doubts whether the Peace Conference 
would have considered the time ripe for the Jewish 
people to be restored to their ancient land. I am certain 
of this, that if Jabotinsky's ideals of a powerful legion 
had been more fully realised. Dr. Weizmann's position 
at the table of the Peace Conference would have been 
immeasurably strengthened. 

It must, however, be recorded for the honour of 
British Jewry, that the vast majority of English Jews 
were heartily in accord with the Government policy, and 
proud of the fact that, practically for the first time in 
Jewish history since the days of Judas Maccabaeus and 
Bar Kochba, battalions of Jewish infantry were to be 
raised and led against the common enemy in Palestine. 
It was also to the credit of English Jewry that a depu- 



The Formation of the Jewish Regiment 29 

tation representing the Jewish masses in England, 
sought and obtained an interview with the Secretary of 
State for War, with the view to the retention of a dis- 
tinctive Jewish name and badge for the Battalions. This 
deputation was introduced on Sept. 5th by Mr. 
J. D. Kiley, M.P., a non-Jew, and among others the 
following men were present : — Captain Redcliffe Sala- 
man. Dr. Eder, Messrs. Elkin Adler, Joseph Cowen, 
L. J. Greenberg, M. J. Landa, etc. Lord Derby had, 
however, committed himself to the first deputation, and 
all he could promise to the deputation representing the 
Jewish masses was that, if the Regiment distinguished 
itself in the Field, it would then be given a Jewish title 
and a Jewish badge. This deputation also obtained the 
War Secretary's sanction to the supply of Kosher food, 
and to the observance of Saturday as the day of rest ; 
Lord Derby also promised that, as far as possible, all 
Jewish festivals should be respected, and that Jewish 
units would, service conditions permitting, be employed 
only in Palestine. 

How the Battalions distinguished themselves, and 
won a special Jewish name and badge, will be recorded 
faithfully in the following pages. 



CHAPTER IV. 
Training at Plymouth. 

IWx^S delighted when, at last, I ^ot away from 
organization duty at the War Office, with all its 
worries and vicissitudes, and commenced the real active 
work of training a fighting Battalion of Jews. 

Plymouth was the spot chosen as our training centre, 
and at the Crown Hill Barracks, near this famous and 
beautiful harbour, we commenced our military career. 

A recruiting Depot was at the same time established 
in London at 22, Chenies Street, where a Staff was in- 
stalled under the command of Major Knowles, an excel- 
lent officer, who had previously served under me in the 
South African War, and who was an ardent supporter of 
Zionist ideals. 

Recruits were received here, and fitted out with 
uniforms before being sent on to Plymouth. The comfort 
of the men while at the Depot was ably attended to by 
various Committees of ladies and gentlemen, whose 
names will be found in the Appendix. They were for- 
tunately in a position to give much needed financial aid 
to various dependents from the moment the Committees 
began work, for public-spirited and liberal Jews were 
found who gave to the good cause with both hands. 
Among these was Mr. Leopold Frank, who gave the 
princely donation of ;^ 1,000. Mr. Lionel D. Walford 

30 



Training at Plymouth 31 

especially was untiring in his efforts for the welfare and 
happiness of every recruit who came to the Depot, and 
so won the hearts of all by the personal service that he 
gave, day in and day out, that he was universally and 
affectionately known to the Judaeans as " Daddy." 

As a nucleus for the Jewish Battalion I arranged for 
the transfer of a platoon of my old Zion Mule Corps men 
from the 20th Battalion of the London Regiment, where 
they were then serving under the command of Colonel 
A. Pownall. My best thanks are due to this officer for 
the help he gave me in effecting the transfer of my old 
veterans. These warlike sons of Israel, not content 
with the laurels they had already won in Gallipoli, sought 
for fresh adventure in other fields, and so volunteered 
for service in France. On the way their ship was tor- 
pedoed and sunk by an Austrian submarine, but for- 
tunately not a Zion man was drowned ; all managed to 
cling on to spars and other wreckage and floated safely 
to a Grecian isle from which they were rescued. They 
eventually reached England in safety, but all their per- 
sonal belongings were lost. 

Men soon began to arrive at Plymouth in batches of 
twenties and thirties, from all over the Kingdom. Many 
trades and professions were represented, but the vast 
majority were either tailors or in some way connected 
with the tailoring trade. I made it a practice to see 
every recruit as soon as he joined and find out some- 
thing about his family and affairs. I also gave every 
man some advice as to how he was to conduct himself 
as a good soldier and a good Jew. The famous sculptor, 
Jacob Epstein, was one of my most promising recruits. 



32 With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign 

and after he had served for some months in the ranks 
I recommended him for a commission. When the 38th 
Battalion left Plymouth for Palestine, Epstein remained 
behind with the second Jewish Battalion then formed, 
but owing to some bungling the commission was never 
granted. 

The difficulties of my command were not few. 

On broad religious grounds Judaism is not compat- 
ible with a soldier's life — and I may say I had many 
strict Jews in the Battalion ; then the men were aliens, 
utterly unaccustomed to Army life, and with an inherent 
hatred of it, owing to the harsh military treatment to 
which the Jew in Russia was subjected ; some of them 
did not speak English, and practically all of them hated 
serving any cause which might in the end help Russia ; 
they knew also that there was a strong body of Jewish 
opinion in England which was hostile to the idea of a 
Jewish unit. 

To make matters worse, the recruits came from 
sedentary occupations. They had never been accus- 
tomed to an out-door, open-air life, and naturally 
dreaded, and really felt, the strain of the hard military 
training which they had to undergo in those cold winter 
days in Plymouth. 

It can be imagined, therefore, that I had no easy task 
before me in moulding these sons of Israel, and inspiring 
them with that martial ardour and esprit de corps which 
is so necessary, if men are to be of any use on the field 
of battle. I impressed upon them that strict discipline, 
and hard training, was not merely for my amusement or 
benefit, but was entirely in their own interests, so that 



Training at Plymouth 33 

when the day of battle came they would be fitter men 
and better fighters than their enemies, and with these 
two points in their favour the chances were that instead 
of getting killed, they would kill their opponents and 
emerge from the battle triumphant. 

The men soon grasped the idea, and took to soldiering 
and all that it means with a hearty goodwill. I am 
happy to say that all difficulties were surmounted, and, 
at the close of the campaign, the Battalion presented as 
fine and steady an appearance on Parade as any Bat- 
talion in the E.E.F. 

Luckily for me , I had an able and enthusiastic staff to 
assist me in my endeavours. I cannot sufficiently 
praise the great service rendered to the Battalion, during 
its infant stages, by Captain Redcliffe Salaman, 
R.A.M.C., who was our medical officer. His know- 
ledge of the men and of Jewish matters generally was 
invaluable to me. 

My Adjutant, Captain Neill, had already had two 
years' experience in a similar position with a battalion 
of the Rifle Brigade. I found him to be able and diplo- 
matic — the latter an essential quality in the handling 
of Jewish soldiers. 

In my Second in Command, Major MacDermot, I 
had an officer of wide experience and high principles, who 
had served under my command in the Dublin Fusiliers. 

In my Assistant Adjutant, Lt. B. Wolffe (whose 
tragic death in Palestine I shall relate in its proper 
place), I had an exceptionally gifted Jewish officer, hard- 
working, painstaking, conscientious, and all out in 
every way to make the Jewish Battalion a success. 



34 With the Judseans in the Palestine Campaign 

I tried to induce Senior Jewish officers to join the 
Battalion, but I found it very hard to get volunteers, for 
the Senior men preferred to remain in their own British 
Regiments. 

1 was able to obtain the services of a fair number of 
Junior Jewish officers, and the Battalion gradually filled 
up in officers, N.C.O.'s and men. 

I would like to mention here that, although the great 
majority of all ranks were Jews, yet there were some 
Christian officers, N.C.O.'s and one or two men. In 
spite of this there was never the very slightest question 
between us of either race or religion. All eventually 
became animated with one spirit — the success, welfare 
and good name of this Jewish Battalion. 

I am glad to say that we had practically no crime to 
stain our record. There was not a single case of a civil 
offence being recorded against us all the time we were 
at Plymouth, which is something new in Army annals. 

And yet another record was created by this unique 
Battalion. The Wet Canteen, where beer only was 
sold, had to be closed, for not a single pint was drunk 
all the time it was open. 

The men showed wonderful quickness and aptitude in 
mastering the details of their military training. It came 
as a surprise to me to find that a little tailor, snatched 
from the purlieus of Petticoat Lane, who had never 
in all his life wielded anything more dangerous than a 
needle, soon became quite an adept in the use of the 
rifle and bayonet, and could transfix a dummy figure of 
the Kaiser in the most approved scientific style, while 
negotiating a series of obstacle-trenches at the double. 




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Training at Plymouth 35 

I noticed that the men were particularly smart in all 
that they did whenever a General came along. I 
remember on one occasion, when we were about to be 
inspected, I told the men to be sure and stand steady 
on parade during the General Salute ; I impressed upon 
them that it was a tradition in the British Army that, 
unless a Battalion stood perfectly steady at this critical 
moment, it would be thought lacking in discipline and 
smartness, and would get a bad report from the General. 
So zealous were my men to uphold this time-honoured 
tradition, that I verily believe that these wonderful 
enthusiasts for rigid British discipline never blinked an 
eyelid while the General was taking the salute. Cer- 
tainly every Commander who inspected us always 
expressed his astonishment at the rock-like steadiness 
of the Jewish Battalion on parade. 

During our training period at Plymouth we received 
many kindnesses from the Jewish community there, 
more especially from its President, Mr. Meyer 
Fredman. 

In the long winter evenings we had lecturers who 
addressed the men on various interesting subjects. 
The famous and learned Rabbi Kuk of Jerusalem paid 
us a visit, and gave the men a stirring address on their 
duties as Jewish soldiers. Jabotinsky gave various 
lectures, one especially on Bialik, the great Jewish poet, 
being particularly memorable. 

We had many talented music-hall and theatrical men 
in our ranks ; our concerts were, therefore, excellent, 
and our concert party was in great request throughout 
the Plymouth district. 

02 



36 With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign 

If there was one officer more than another who helped 
to promote the men's comfort, it was Lieut. E. 
Vandyk. He was in charge of the messing arrange- 
ments, and the Battalion was exceptionally fortunate 
in having a man of his experience to undertake this 
most exacting of all tasks. 

Later on Vandyk proved himself equally capable as 
a leader in the field, where he was promoted to the 
rank of Captain. 

I must not forget the kindness shown to us at 
Plymouth by Lady Astor, M.P., who gave us a 
Recreation Hut, and by Sir Arthur Yapp, the Secretary 
of the Y.M.C.A., who furthered our comfort in every 
possible way. 

While we were yet at Plymouth I received orders 
from the War Office to form two more Jewish Battalions 
in addition to the 38th. 

As soon as sufficient recruits justified it I recom- 
mended the Authorities to proceed with the formation 
of the 39th Battalion and to appoint Major Knowles, 
from the Depot, to the Command. This was done, 
and from what I saw during the time I was in Plymouth, 
I felt quite confident that Colonel Knowles would make 
an excellent commander. 

Colonel Knowles was succeeded at the Depot in 
London by Major Schonfield, who worked untiringly 
to promote the interests of the recruits, and to imbue 
them with a good, soldierly spirit while they were 
passing through his hands in Chenies Street. About 
the same time as Colonel Knowles was appointed. 
Captain Salaman so highly recommended his brother- 



Training at Plymouth 37 

in-law, Colonel F. D. Samuel, D,.S.O., to me that 
I asked the Adjutant-General if this officer might be 
recalled from France to take charge of the training at 
Plymouth, and Jewish affairs there generally, after my 
departure for Palestine. The Adjutant-General very 
kindly agreed to my request, and transferred Colonel 
Samuel from France to Plymouth at very short notice. 

Soon after I left for Palestine recommendations were 
made to the War Office that it would be preferable to 
have a Jewish officer in command of the 39th Battalion, 
and the result was that Colonel Samuel was appointed 
to the 39th Battalion in the place of Colonel Knowles. 
This treatment was most unfair to the latter, who had 
worked extremely hard and enthusiastically, both at 
the Depot and during the time he held command of 
the 39th Battalion, where he did all the spade work 
and made things very easy for his successor. Colonel 
Knowles afterwards went to France and later on served 
with the North Russian Expeditionary Force. 

Of course, it was all to the good to have a Jewish 
Commanding Officer, but it should have been arranged 
without doing an injustice to Colonel Knowles. 

About this time Major Margolin, D.S.O., a Jewish 
officer attached to the Australian Forces, was trans- 
ferred to the Depot at Plymouth, and eventually 
replaced Colonel Samuel in the command of the 39th 
Battalion. 

Outsiders will never be able to imagine the immense 
amount of trouble and detail involved in the formation 
of this unique unit. I must say that the War Office, 
and the local command at Plymouth, gave me every 



38 With the Judseans in the Palestine Campaign 

possible assistance. Colonel King, of the Military 
Secretary's Staff at the W.O., helped me through many 
a difficulty in getting Jewish officers brought back from 
France. 

Colonel Graham, also of the War Office, came to my 
assistance whenever he could possibly do so, while the 
late Military Secretary, General Sir Francis Davies, 
under whom I had served in Gallipoli, was kindness 
itself. 

General Hutchison, the Director of Organization, 
was always a tower of strength, and the Jewish Bat- 
talions owe him a heavy debt. Lieut. -Colonel Amery, 
M.P., and the late Sir Mark Sykes, M.P., also did 
what was in their power to make our thorny path 
smooth. 



CHAPTER V. 

The Kosher Problem. 

THE only serious trouble we had in Plymouth 
occurred over Kosher food. As most people 
probably know, Jewish food has to be killed and 
cooked in a certain way as laid down in Jewish Law, 
and it is then known as " kosher," i.e. proper. 

This was, of course, quite new to the Military 
authorities, and the Army being a very conservative 
machine, and, at times, a very stubborn one, they failed 
to see the necessity of providing special food for the 
Jewish troops — a curious state of mentality considering 
the care taken with the food of our Moslem soldiers. 

I have a fairly shrewd idea that all the blame for the 
trouble we were put to in this matter must not rest 
altogether on the shoulders of the Army officials, for I 
strongly suspect that our Jewish " friends," the enemy, 
who were so anxious to destroy the Jewishness of the 
Regiment, had their fingers in this Kosher pie ! 

Now I felt very strongly that unless the Jewish 
Battalion was treated as such, and all its wants, both 
physical and spiritual, catered for in a truly Jewish way, 
this new unit would be an absolute failure, for I could 
only hope to appeal to them as Jews, and it could 

39 



40 With the Judseans in the Palestine Campaign 

hardly be expected that there would be any response to 
this appeal if I countenanced such an outrage on their 
religious susceptibilities as forcing them to eat unlawful 
food. I made such a point of this that I was at length 
summoned to the War Office by the Adjutant-General, 
Sir Nevil Macready, who informed me that I was to 
carry on as if I had an ordinary British battalion, and 
that there was to be no humbug about Kosher food, or 
Saturday Sabbaths, or any other such nonsense. I 
replied very respectfully, but very firmly, that if this 
was to be the attitude taken up by the War Office, it 
would be impossible to make the Battalion a success, for 
the only way to make good Jewish soldiers of the men 
was by first of all treating them as good Jews ; if they 
were not to be treated as Jews, then I should request 
to be relieved of my command. 

Accordingly, as soon as I returned to Plymouth, I 
forwarded my resignation, but the G.O.C. Southern 
Command returned it to me for reconsideration. 

In the meantime a telegram was received from the 
War Office to say that the Kosher food would be 
granted, and Saturday would be kept as the Sabbath. 

After this things went smoothly ; Sir Nevil Macready 
readily lent us his ear when I put up an S.O.S., and, 
as a matter of fact, he became one of our staunchest 
friends. 

I was more than gratified to receive, a few days later, 
the following ' ' Kosher ' ' charter from the War Ofifice — 
a charter which helped us enormously all through our 
service, not only in England, but also when we got 
amongst the Philistines in Palestine. 



The Kosher Problem 41 

14th Sept., 1917. 
20/Gen. No. 4425 (A.G. 2a). 

Sir, 

With reference to Army Council Instruction 
1415 of the I2th Sept., 1917, relating to the 
formation of Battalions for the reception of 
Friendly Alien Jews, I am commanded by the 
Army Council to inform you that, as far as the 
Military exigencies permit, Saturday should be 
allowed for their day of rest instead of Sunday. 

Arrangements will be made for the provision of 
Kosher food when possible. 
I am, etc., 

(Signed) B. B. Cubitt. 

To the General Officer Commanding 

in Chief, Southern Command. 
O.C. 3 8th Bn. Royal Fusiliers. 

Forwarded for Information. 

Devonport, 2 1/9/ 17. 

(Signed) E. Montagu, Colonel. 
A. A. and Q.M.G. 

Before we sailed for the front. General Macready did 
us the honour of coming all the way from London, 
travelling throughout the night, to pay us a friendly 
visit, without any of the pomp or circumstance of war, 
and he was so impressed by what he saw of the soldierly 
bearing of the men that, from that day until the day 
he left office, no reasonable request from the Jewish 
Battalion was ever refused. 



42 With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign 

I had a final interview with General Macready at 
the W.O. before setting out for Palestine, when he told 
me in the presence of Major-General Hutchison, 
Director of Organization, that the object he aimed at 
was the formation of a complete Jewish Brigade, and 
that he was recommending General AUenby to com- 
mence that formation as soon as two complete Jewish 
Battalions arrived in Egypt. 

Of course, this was very welcome news to me, be- 
cause it would mean all the difference in the world to 
our welfare and comfort if we formed our own Brigade. 
It would mean that the Brigade would have its own 
Commander who would be listened to when he repre- 
sented Jewish things to higher authority. It would 
mean direct access to the Divisional General, to 
Ordnance, to supplies, and the hundred and one things 
which go to make up the efficiency and cater for the 
comfort of each unit of the Brigade. 

No worse fate can befall any Battalion than to be 
left out by itself in the cold, merely "attached" to a 
Brigade or a Division, as the case may be. It is 
nobody's child, and everybody uses it for fatigues and 
every other kind of dirty work which is hateful to a 
soldier. 

It can be imagined, therefore, how grateful I was to 
General Macready for promising a Jewish Brigade, for 
I knew that such a formation would make all the dif- 
ference in the world to the success of the Jewish cause 
as a whole and, what was of great importance, to the 
good name of the Jewish soldier. 



CHAPTER VI. 

We Set Out for Palestine. 

TOWARDS the end of January, 1918, we were 
notified that the 38th Battalion was to proceed 
on Active Service to Palestine. This news was 
received with great joy by all ranks, and every man 
was granted ten days' leave to go home and bid 
farewell to his family. 

Of course, our pessimistic friends took every oppor- 
tunity of maligning the Jew from Russia, and said that 
the men would desert and we should never see a tenth 
of them again. I, however, felt otherwise, and had no 
anxiety about their return. Nor was I disappointed, 
for when the final roll-call was made there were not so 
very many absentees, certainly no more than there would 
have been from an ordinary British battalion, so here 
again our enemies were confounded and disappointed, 
for they had hoped for better things. 

The Battalion was ordered to concentrate at South- 
ampton for embarkation on the 5th February. Two 
days before this date Sir Nevil Macready ordered half 
the Battalion to come to London to march through the 
City and East End, before proceeding to Southampton. 
This march of Jewish soldiers, unique in English 
military history, proved a brilliant success. The men 

43 



44 With the Judseans in the Palestine Campaign 

were quartered in the Tower for the night, and on the 
morning of the 4th February started from this historic 
spot, in full kit and with bayonets fixed, preceded by 
the band of the Coldstream Guards. The blue and 
white Jewish flag as well as the Union Jack was 
carried proudly through the City amid cheering crowds. 
At the Mansion House the Lord Mayor (who had 
granted us the privilege of marching through the City 
with fixed bayonets) took the salute, and Sir Nevil 
Macready was also present to see us march past. 

As we approached the Mile End Road the scenes of 
enthusiasm redoubled, and London's Ghetto fairly 
rocked with military fervour and roared its welcome to 
its own. Jewish banners were hung out everywhere, 
and it certainly was a scene unparalleled in the history 
of any previous British Battalion. Jabotinsky (who had 
that day been gazetted to a Lieutenancy in the Bat- 
talion) must have rejoiced to see the fruit of all his 
efforts. After a reception by the Mayor of Stepney, 
the march was resumed to Camperdown House, where 
the men was inspected by Sir Francis Lloyd, G.O.C. 
London District. He complimented them on their 
smart and soldierly appearance, and made quite an 
impressive speech, reminding them of the heroism and 
soldierly qualities of their forefathers, and concluded by 
saying that he was sure this modern Battalion of Jews 
now before him would be no whit behind their forbears 
in covering themselves with military glory. 

An excellent lunch was provided for the men in 
Camperdown House, where speeches were delivered 
by the Chief Rabbi, the Mayor of Stepney, Mr. Kiley, 




LIEUr. VLADIMIR JABOTINSKY 



We Set Out for Palestine 45 

M.P., Mr. Joseph Co wen (the Chairman), and other 
friends of the Battalion. 

Afterwards the troops proceeded, amid more cheer- 
ing, to Waterloo, where, before they entrained for 
Southampton, they were presented by Captain Fredman 
with a scroll of the law. 

My new Adjutant, Captain Leadley, who came to 
take the place vacated by Captain Neill on promotion 
to Major, had only just joined us on the morning of 
our march. He was much surprised at the first Regi- 
mental duty he was called upon to perform, which was 
to take charge, on behalf of the Battalion, of the Scroll 
of the Law. The excellent Jewish Padre who had 
just been posted to us, and whose duty this should 
have been, was with the remainder of the troops at 
Plymouth. 

I was very favourably impressed by Captain 
Leadley from the first moment I saw him, and during 
the whole time he remained with the Battalion I never 
had cause to change my opinion. He was a splendid 
Adjutant, and, in my opinion, was capable of filling a 
much higher position on the Army Staff. 

When the half Battalion reached Southampton, it 
joined forces with the other half, which had been 
brought to that place from Plymouth by Major Ripley, 
who was now Second-in-Command in place of Major 
MacDermot, who remained behind with the Depot. 
The whole Battalion proceeded to embark on the little 
steamship Antrim on the 5th February. 

Just as Captain Salaman was about to go on board, 
he was confronted by another Medical Officer, Captain 



46 With the Judseans in the Palestine Campaign 

Halden Davis, R.A.M.C, who, at the last moment, 
was ordered by the War Office to proceed with us 
instead of Captain Salaman. I knew nothing about 
this, and was naturally loth to lose Captain Salaman, 
while he, on his part, was furious at the idea of being 
left behind. However, there was no help for it, so back 
he had to go to Plymouth. I think a certain number 
of the shirkers in the Battalion may have been pleased 
to see him go, for he stood no nonsense from gentlemen 
of this kidney. 

I had, for some time, been making strenuous efforts 
to obtain the services of the Rev. L. A. Falk, the 
Acting Jewish Chaplain at Plymouth, as our spiritual 
guide, and luckily I was successful, for, at the last 
moment, all difficulties were surmounted, and he joined 
us as we embarked. I had had many warnings from 
people who ought to have known better that he was 
not a suitable man for the post, but I had seen him and 
judged for myself, and I felt sure that he would suit 
my Jews from Russia much better than a Rabbi chosen 
because he was a Jew from England. 

His work and his example to others, during the whole 
time he served with us, were beyond all praise, and 
I often felt very glad, when he was put to the test 
of his manhood, that I had not listened to the voice of 
the croaker in England. 

The embarkation of the Battalion was complete by 
5 p.m. on the 5th February, and after dark we steamed 
out of the harbour and made for Cherbourg. It is 
fortunate that we escaped enemy submarines, for the 
little Antrim was packed to its utmost limits, not only 




The REV. L. A. FALK 



We Set Out for Palestine 47 

with the Jewish Battalion, but also with other troops. 
We were kept at the British Rest Camp at Cherbourg 
until the 7th, and then entrained for St. Germain, 
near Lyons, where we rested from the 9th to the loth. 
From here we went on to Faenza, along the beautiful 
French and Italian Riviera. 

The arrangements throughout the journey for feed- 
ing the men and giving them hot tea, etc., were not 
perfect, but on the whole we did not fare badly. 

We arrived at Faenza on the 13th, and we will 
always cherish a kindly remembrance of this well- 
arranged Rest Camp, and of the Staff in charge there. 
The greatest credit is due to the Commandant, Colonel 
Scott Harden, for having made a veritable garden in 
the wilderness, and arranged everything for the com- 
fort and well-being of the tired and travel-stained 
soldier passing through his capable hands. The only 
drawback was that my unsophisticated boys were no 
match for the Scotsmen whom they met in the Ser- 
geant's Mess ! However that may be, we all came away 
with the liveliest feelings of gratitude towards our kindly 
hosts who had given us a real good time at Faenza. 

During our halt at this delightful camp we gave a 
concert and also a boxing exhibition to the Italian 
officers of the garrison, both of which were much ap- 
preciated. The Italian G.O.C., with all his Staff, also 
came, and was highly interested in the exhibition. As 
a special compliment to us, because we were the first 
complete British Battalion to go through Italy, he re- 
viewed us in front of the Town Hall on our march to the 
station at 10 o'clock at night. 



48 With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign 

From Faenza we continued our journey to Taranto, 
and on the way spent a few pleasant hours at Brindisi, 
I walked along the docks, and, by the number of naval 
vessels of all types moored there, I realized that there 
could not be many Italian warships at sea ; but it must 
be remembered that the Mediterranean was at this time 
infested with German and Austrian submarines, so that 
our allies must not be blamed if they were taking as few 
chances as possible with their ships of war. I remember 
asking myself the question, what is the use of a ship 
of war that is afraid to show itself on the open sea ? 

As we ran along the shores of the Adriatic, we were 
all wondering whether an Austrian war vessel would 
not suddenly dash up and blow us and our train to 
pieces, but, wherever the Austrian fleet may have been 
that day, fortunately for us it was not cruising on the 
Adriatic Coast of Italy, and we reached Taranto on the 
1 6th. 

Thieving from the trains running through Southern 
Italy was a pleasant pastime for the natives, but we 
were fortunate in that we lost but little. We 
had a couple of accidents during our long railway 
journey which might, without luck, have proved disas- 
trous. Just before we reached Marseilles a coupling 
about the middle of the train parted, and the rear car- 
riages were left standing on the line. Fortunately, 
however, this was discovered before anything serious 
occurred, and a relief engine brought the stranded por- 
tion along. The same thing happened on the Italian 
railway between Brindisi and Taranto, which delayed us 
for about eight hours. 



We Set Out for Palestine 49 

The behaviour of the men during the whole long 
journey of nine days was exemplary, and I wired a 
message to this effect to the War Office, for, as Russia 
was just out of the War, there was some anxiety in 
England as to how Russian subjects in the British Army 
would behave on hearing the news. 

As a matter of fact recruiting of Russian Jews in 
England had been stopped after we left Southampton, 
and many of the men naturally questioned the fairness of 
the authorities in freeing slackers or late comers, while 
retaining those who had promptly answered the call. 

I cabled this point of view to the Adjutant-General on 
reaching Taranto and received a reply that all such 
matters could be settled in Egypt. 

We remained basking in the sunshine of Southern 
Italy for over a week. I met here an old friend of mine, 
Captain Wake, who had been badly wounded in one of 
our little wars on the East African coast many years 
ago. Although minus a leg he was still gallantly doing 
his bit for England. 

We were encamped at Camino, a few miles from 
Taranto, and our strength at this time was 31 officers, 
and roughly 900 other ranks. 

Two officers and about 70 N.C.O.'s and men sailed 
on another boat from Marseilles, with the horses, mules 
and wagons, under the command of Captain Julian, 
M.C. 

While we were at Taranto the Rev. L. A. Falk and I, 
accompanied by Jabotinsky, searched for and eventually 
found a suitable Ark in which to place the Scroll of the 
Law. 



50 With the Judseans in the Palestine Campaign 

At the close of our last Sabbath service before we 
embarked, I addressed the men, and, pointing to the 
Ark, told them that while it was with us we need have 
no fear, that neither submarine nor storm would trouble 
us, and, therefore, that their minds might be easy on 
board ship. 

We embarked on the Leasoe Castle at 9 o'clock 
a.m. on the 25th, steamed out of the harbour in the 
afternoon, under the escort of three Japanese destroyers, 
and arrived safely in Alexandria on the 28th February, 
never having seen a submarine or even a ripple on the 
sea throughout the voyage. Owing to this piece of 
good luck my reputation as a prophet stood high ! It is 
a curious fact that on her next voyage the Leasoe Castle 
was torpedoed and sunk. 



CHAPTER VII. 

Back in the Land of Bondage. 

WHEN we landed at Alexandria on the ist March 
the Battalion Vv^as invited by the Jewish com- 
munity, headed by the Grand Rabbi, to commemorate 
its safe arrival in Egypt by attending a special service 
in the beautiful Temple in the street of the Prophet 
Daniel. 

The men got a splendid reception from the Alexan- 
drians as they marched to the Synagogue, where a most 
impressive service was held, the Grand Rabbi giving 
the soldiers a special benediction in the grand old 
language of the Prophets. 

After the service, refreshments were served by a 
number of Jewish ladies, who could hardly indeed believe 
that they were waiting upon a Battalion, composed of 
men of their own race, who were now serving as Jewish 
soldiers under the flag of England. Their faces glowed 
with joy at the thought that a complete Jewish unit was 
now before their eyes, and was on its way to assist in 
releasing the land of their forefathers from the hand of 
the Turkish oppressor. 

It was a great pleasure to meet again those good 
people who had helped me so wholeheartedly in looking 
after the wives and dependents of my Zion Mule Corps 

51 D2 



52 With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign 

men who had served in Gallipoli in 191 5. Perhaps none 
worked more zealously or gave more unselfish devotion 
to those poor and miserable refugees than the Baroness 
Rosette de Menasce. No matter what I wanted done 
in the way of help or assistance for the impoverished 
dependents, I could always rely on this beautiful and 
charitable lady to see it through. 

After lunch was over we marched to the station and 
entrained for Helmieh, a village a few miles outside 
Cairo, where the battalion was to be encamped, while 
completing its training for the front. On arrival there 
we found awaiting us Captain Julian with the transport 
section complete, which had safely arrived a couple of 
days previously. 

At Cairo we were met by an emissary from Palestine, 
who informed us that there was a great Jewish volunteer 
movement on foot in Judaea, and that hundreds of young 
men were eager to join the Army, and scores of Jewish 
ladies were anxious to give their services as nurses, or 
even as transport drivers. 

This was cheering news — news which I naturally 
thought would prove most welcome to the Commander- 
in-Chief of the E . E . F . 

The leading Jewish citizens of Cairo, not to be out- 
done by their brethren of Alexandria, arranged with the 
authorities, soon after our arrival, that we should attend 
a religious service in the Chief Synagogue ; the battalion 
had a wonderful reception as it marched through the 
City, which was thronged with cheering crowds. The 
High Commissioner, General Sir Francis Reginald 
Wingate, took the salute as the men marched past the 



Back in the Land of Bondage 53 

Residency, and evinced the greatest and most friendly 
interest in this Jewish unit and the Jewish movement 
generally. 

I must menuon here that the battalion was much in- 
debted to Mr. Maurice Gattegno, of Cairo, for the 
immense amount of trouble he took in everything which 
could be helpful, and the generous way in which he con- 
tributed to all our comforts. He had an able helper in 
his sister-in-law, Miss Viterbo (now Mrs. Hopkin), who 
was untiring in her efforts on the men's behalf. Mr. 
Franco and Mr. Cohen, of Alexandria, were also ardent 
supporters of the battalion. 

The Jews who have made Egypt their home are a 
kindly hospitable people, and we owe them a debt of 
gratitude for the way they received us and the interest 
they took in our welfare. The land of the Pharaohs is 
supposed to eat away the soul of a people and send 
them after strange gods, but, in my intercourse with the 
Jews of Egypt, I found that there are to-day many 
devout men, who work, and pray, and give lavishly of 
their substance, to the end that Israel may be restored. 

The usual infantry training was carried out at 
Helmieh — drill, physical training, bayonet fighting, 
bombing, marching, musketry, signalling, etc., went on 
from morning until night, and the men made excellent 
progress. In fact, within a few weeks of our arrival in 
Egypt, no one would have recognized in these bronzed 
and well set up men, who walked about with a conscious 
look of pride in themselves and their battalion, the pale, 
pinched, miserable looking conscripts who joined up at 
Plymouth, 



54 With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign 

Soon after our arrival in Egypt I sent the following 
letter to the Commander-in-Chief : 

Cairo, 

5TH March, 1918. 

My dear General, 

No doubt you have heard of the arrival of the 
Jewish Battalion in Egypt. I am very anxious to 
see you in connection with the formation of a Jewish 
Brigade, about which the War Office have given 
me to understand they have made some communica- 
tion to you. 

First of all there will be the position of the 
Russians to discuss, as I have some hundreds of 
these with me. They are at present performing 
their duties cheerfully and well, and I have no fault 
to find with their attitude ; but, as Russia has signed 
a separate peace, a new situation may arise which 
I would like to be ready to meet. There are 
already two more Jewish Battalions formed in 
England, and one of these, the 39th, was under 
orders to embark when I left Plymouth. Presum- 
ably, it will arrive in Egypt soon. I hear of other 
battalions for service with the Jewish Brigade being 
formed in New York ; and the Adjutant- General 
informed me that it was probable that the French 
authorities would transfer the Polish Jews now 
serving in France to this Brigade. I am told that 
there are several hundred young Jews waiting to 
enlist in Palestine. There are a number more in 
Cairo and Alexandria. 



Back in the Land of Bondage 55 

With your permission I would gladly commence 
recruiting in these areas, and form a new battalion 
here. For the purpose of enlisting the Palestine 
volunteers, it would require a recruiting party to 
make a trip round the Jewish colonies to collect the 
recruits. I have an ideal party for such a duty in 
my present battalion, all speaking Hebrew, headed 
by an officer who knows Palestine. With your 
approval I would send this party as soon as possible 
on tour. Recruiting offices should also be opened 
in Cairo and Alexandria, where I have promises of 
every support from the Jewish communities of 
these cities. 

In England the Adjutant-General allowed trans- 
fers of Jewish Officers, N.C.O.'s and men. I 
hope you will be equally indulgent to those who 
wish to join me from other units now under 
your command. 

I am strongly of the opinion that the training 
ground of the Jewish Brigade should be in Judaea 
itself, firstly for its great m.oral effect on the men ; 
secondly, the climate of Cairo during the training 
months of March and April will make it practically 
impossible to do much satisfactory work here. I 
am convinced that twice the results could be ob- 
tained in such a place as Jaffa, or other suitable 
colony, while the health of the troops would greatly 
benefit by the cooler climate. It would also enor- 
mously stimulate recruiting in Palestine. 

I know that the Home Government attach the 
greatest importance to the moral effect of this 



56 With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign 

Jewish Brigade on the outer world of Jewry — not 
only in allied and neutral, but also in enemy coun- 
tries — and such full effect can only be obtained by 
placing the Brigade in Palestine at the earliest 
possible moment. 

There are some other points which I would 
like to bring to your notice, but I will not add 
to the length of this letter by mentioning them 
now. 

I should, however, be very glad to see you, and 
discuss these matters generally with you, and hope 
you will send instructions for me to report at your 
headquarters at an early date. 

Yours sincerely, 
(Signed) J. H. Patterson, 

I got a reply from Major-General Louis Jean Bols, 
the Chief of Staff, asking me to come to G.H.Q., but 
at the same time informing me that General Allenby was 
not in favour of my suggestions. 

This was somewhat of a surprise to me, for at a time 
when men were so badly needed, I thought that a Jewish 
legion, of say 25,000 men, would have been 
most acceptable on the Palestine front, and, had General 
Allenby shown himself at all favourable to the idea of a 
Jewish legion, it would at that time have been an easy 
task to have obtained any number of men, from America 
and elsewhere, to fight in Palestine. 

Nothing daunted, however, I proceeded to G.H.Q., 
where I had an interview with the Commander-in-Chief, 
who told me quite frankly that he was not in sympathy 



Back in the Land of Bondage 57 

with the War Office policy in sending this Jewish Bat- 
talion to Palestine, and that he did not want any further 
addition such as I suggested to his Forces. 

At a subsequent interview which I had with his Chief 
of Staff, I gathered that I need expect but little sym- 
pathy for my battalion, as Major-General Louis Jean 
Bols told me quite plainly that he was not favourably 
disposed towards Jewish aspirations. 

This anti- Jewish policy of General Allenby and his 
Chief of Staff came as a shock to me, for I knew that it 
was the settled intention of His Majesty's Government 
to support these Jewish Battalions, and the Jewish claim 
to Palestine, and I had been expecting quite a different 
reception for my proposals from the E.E.F. authorities 
to that which they received. I found, to my amaze- 
ment, that the policy adopted by the Staff towards this 
Jewish Battalion, and the Jewish problem generally, ran 
counter to the declared policy of the Home Government. 
Alas ! it seemed that another Pharaoh had arisen who 
knew not Joseph ; and once again we would be expected 
to make bricks without straw, and become hewers of 
wood and drawers of water. Instead of this new unit 
being helped and encouraged, we were, on the contrary, 
throughout our service in the E.E.F. , made to feel that 
we were merely Ishmaelites, with every hand uplifted 
against us. 

I knew full well what our fate would be once the 
policy of G.H.Q. on this question was known, and, as I 
will show later, the underlings of the Staff did not fail 
to play up to the attitude of the higher command. I 
hoped, however, that the battalion would do such good 



58 With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign 

work that we would eventually overcome all prejudice. 
We looked for no favours, and only wanted to be 
treated as a battalion " all out " to do its duty. 

The Commander-in-Chief was of course aware by 
this time of the Arab pretensions to Syria, and as his 
mind was, no doubt, wholly centred on his own war 
theatre, he was naturally anxious to placate the Arab at 
all costs. The Arab was at his door, giving him cer- 
tain assistance by harrying the Turks to the East of the 
Jordan, and the fact that the Hedjaz Army was fighting 
on our side kept Bedouins and other marauders from 
interfering with our lines of communication — no small 
matter in Palestine and Syria. The intrusion of the Jew 
was a disturbing factor to his policy, and was therefore 
resented. 

The local Military Authorities, however, seemed ob- 
livious of the fact that there was a much bigger question 
involved than that which loomed so largely in their eyes 
on the Palestine horizon. There was England's world 
policy to be considered, and her Statesmen had already 
decided that it was very much in her interests to win over 
to her side Jewish help and sympathy the world over. 
Let no one under-estimate what that help meant to the 
Allies during the Great War. The Jewish element, 
owing to the Balfour Declaration, came solidly to our 
side in every land, and in America greatly helped 
to counter the German propaganda which was fast grip- 
ping hold of the United States. It was unfortunate 
that this far-sighted and wise policy of our Imperial 
vStatesmen was never grasped by their local agents in 
Palestine. 



Back in the Land of Bondage 59 

In the E.E.F., so far as one on the spot could judge, 
but scant heed was paid to any policy unless it bore on 
local affairs and coincided with the point of view held 
by G.H.Q. and the satellites revolving round it. 

If only a little wise diplomacy had been employed, 
I am strongly of the opinion that it would have been quite 
practicable for the local authorities to have treated the 
Jewish problem fairly and on the lines of the Balfour 
Declaration and, at the same time, have retained the 
Arabs on our side. After all the Arabs were as much 
interested in the downfall of the Turk as we were our- 
selves, and, to his honour be it said, the Emir Feisal 
never showed himself hostile to Jewish aspirations. On 
the contrary he expressed the utmost goodwill and 
worked hand in hand with Dr. Weizmann for the 
common good of both peoples. 

The Jew and the Arab are necessary to each other in 
the Near East, and if England wishes to retain her 
Empire it is vital to her interests to keep friendly with 
both. I am afraid that at the moment we are at a dis- 
count to the East of Suez. During the stress of war 
certain promises were made to the Arabs which appear 
difficult to redeem, mainly due to the policy of France 
in Syria. I admire France immensely, and that is why 
I so much deplore her imperialistic aims beyond the 
Lebanons. She is sowing a rich crop of troubles for 
herself in these regions, and I am certain that ere long 
we shall see her reaping a bitter harvest. I met a much 
travelled French officer in Cairo, who had just relin- 
quished an administrative post in Bey rout, and he told 
me that, if his Government was wise, it would clear out 



6o With the Judseans in the Palestine Campaign 

of Syria, where it would have nothing but trouble for 
generations to come. " If only," he went on, " Eng- 
land would give us a bit of Africa and take Syria instead, 
France would make a good bargain." 

We, however, do not want Syria, but we do want to 
see a strong and settled Arab state in these strictly Arab 
regions, and I sincerely hope that our Statesmen will be 
wise enough, and energetic enough, to bring about such 
a desirable consummation. If we permit the Bolshevists 
and Turks to oust us from our friendship with the Jews 
and Arabs, and with King Hussein and his son the Emir 
Feisal (now the King of Irak), upon whom we have alter- 
nately blown hot and cold, just as it pleased France to 
pipe the tune then we shall witness the beginning of the 
end of our power and prestige in the Orient. 

My trip to G.H.Q. was not quite in vain, for just 
before we left Egypt sanction was given to enlist 
Palestinian volunteers. I sent to Judaea a specially 
trained recruiting party, all fluent Hebrew speakers, 
under the command of Lieutenant Lipsey, to report to 
Major James de Rothschild of the 39th Battalion, who 
was the officer appointed to supervise this work in Egypt 
and Palestine. 

The response to Major de Rothschild's appeal was 
enthusiastic — in fact his chief trouble was to keep out 
grey-beards and unfledged youths, so eager were all to 
join up. 

Lieutenant Lipsey had some difficulty in keeping his 
end up in Jerusalem, where there were many anti- 
Zionists, but finally he worsted his opponents and 
emerged triumphant with nearly i ,000 recruits. 



Back in the Land of Bondage 6i 

The following is a translation of the Hebrew recruiting 
poster sent throughout Palestine at this time : — 

Hear, O Israel ! 

Hear ! What does your heart prompt you to do ? 

Shall we not reclaim our heritage and establish its pos- 
session in the eyes of the world ? 

Hearken ! What does your reason say to you ? 

The British are fighting here before our eyes, and shall 
we remain in our houses until they return from the 
battle to give us our country which they have re- 
deemed with their blood? 

Hearken ! What does your honour and conscience 
dictate ? 

Is it possible for us to accept from the hands of our 
righteous redeemers such an offering of blood? 

Shall not we too, together with them, offer our lives 
for our country ? 

Hear, O Israel ! 

The blood of our heroic forefathers, the blood of the 
British who fight for us this day, and the blood of 
the martyrs, cry unto us from this sacred ground. 

Enlist ! Enlist ! 

Shoulder to shoulder, together with our saviours, to the 
battle let us go. And salvation is with the Lord. 

Be Strong ! 



CHAPTER VIII. 

The Feast of the Passover. 

AT this time G.H.O. was situated at a place called 
Bir Salem (the Well of Peace), ten miles to the 
east of Jaffa, and as, after my interview, I had the whole 
day before me, I borrowed a motor-car and paid a flying 
visit to Jerusalem, some thirty miles away to the east- 
ward. I will not attempt to describe here what I felt 
as I approached the Holy City, along the winding road 
which leads up to it through the rocky Judaean 
mountains. 

I entered the old walled city through the Jaffa Gate, 
and was soon buried in its gloomy bazaars and labyrin- 
thine passages, seeking out the old historic spots which 
I had reverenced from the days of my youth. I had but 
a few hours for my explorations, but they were about the 
busiest hours I ever spent, and although I have paid 
many visits to Jerusalem since that date I have not for- 
gotten the glamour thrown over me by my first visit to 
these sacred shrines and temples of antiquity. 

I left Jerusalem at three in the afternoon and was back 
in my camp at Helmieh within twenty-four hours. 

The Battalion was attached to the School of Instruc- 
tion at Zeitoun (close to Helmieh), which was an un- 
fortunate arrangement, for our requirements were not 

62 



The Feast of the Passover 63 

attended to, and we were often kept idle for long periods 
owing to want of equipment, such as rifles, etc., to 
enable the men to fire their musketry course. There 
was no excuse for this, for there was plenty of equip- 
ment of all kinds in the Ordnance Stores at Cairo. It 
was the fault of the vicious system of having to get 
everything we wanted through the School of Instruc- 
tion, whose staff did not seem to think that our require- 
ments needed speeding up. It was not until Brigadier- 
General A. B. Robertson assumed command of the 
school that matters were mended, for this officer took a 
very friendly interest in us and did everything in his 
power to help us along. 

The Feast of the Passover was celebrated during our 
stay at Helmieh. Thus history was repeating itself in 
the Land of Bondage in a Jewish Military Camp, after 
a lapse of over 3 ,000 years from the date of the original 
feast. 

I had considerable trouble with the authorities in the 
matter of pro viding unleavened bread . H owever , we sur- 
mounted all difficulties, and had an exceedingly jovial 
first night, helped thereto by the excellent Palestinian 
wine which we received from Mr. Gluskin, the head of 
the celebrated wine press of Richon-le-Zion, near Jaffa. 
The unleavened bread for the battalion, during the eight 
days of the Feast, cost somewhat more than the ordinary 
ration would have done, so I requested that the excess 
should be paid for out of Army Funds. This was refused 
by the local command in Egypt, so I went to the H.Q. 
Office, where I saw a Jewish Staff Officer, and told him 
I had come to get this matter adjusted. He said that, 



64 With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign 

as a matter of fact, he had decided against us himself. 
I told him that I considered his judgment unfair, because 
the battalion was a Jewish Battalion, and the Army- 
Council had already promised Kosher food whenever it 
was possible to obtain it, and it would have been a deadly- 
insult to have forced ordinary bread upon the men during 
Passover. I therefore said that I would appeal against 
his decision to a higher authority. He replied, " This 
will do you no good, for you will get the same reply 
from G.H.Q." He was mistaken, for I found the 
Gentile, on this particular occasion, more sympathetic 
than the Jew, and the extra amount was paid by order 
of the Q.M.G., Sir Walter Campbell. 

During our stay at this camp we were reviewed by 
H.R.H. the Duke of Connaught, and, towards the end 
of May, by the Commander-in-Chief, General Allenby. 
Both these officers expressed themselves as pleased with 
the smart soldierly appearance and steadiness of the 
men, the Duke of Connaught remarking that " the men 
all appeared to be triers." 

Towards the close of our training at Helmieh, and 
just as I was beginning to congratulate myself that the 
battalion was shaping well and would soon be fit for 
the front, I was staggered by the receipt of a letter from 
G.H.Q. which aimed a deadly blow at our very exist- 
ence. It was nothing less than the proposal to break 
up the battalion and allow the men to join Labour 
units ! This was undoubtedly a clever move on the part 
of the Staff to rid themselves of the Jewish problem and, 
at the same time, bring the derision of the world upon 
the Jew. 



THE^BAITALIUN ON PARADE 







TOMB OF RACHEL, NEAR BETHLEHEM 

{See page 93) 



The Feast of the Passover 65 

It put me in a very difficult position, for I felt very 
keenly that, if the battalion were disbanded and turned 
over to Labour units, it would throw an indelible stigma 
on Jewry. 

I felt that it was my duty to protect the battalion from 
the disgrace that would attach to it if it could be said 
that the only Jewish unit raised for war purposes had 
refused to fight — even for Palestine. 

I therefore ordered a parade of the men by Com- 
panies, and got the officers to point out to the men their 
sacred duty, and gave instructions for any malcontents 
to be sent before me for a final appeal. Only twelve 
men were found who wished to join a Labour unit, and 
to these twelve (I thought the number appropriate, as 
it was one for each tribe) I made a strong personal 
appeal, and after I had pointed out, in the best language 
at my command, what a stigma they were placing on the 
battalion, and on their fellow Jews throughout the 
world, ten saw the error of their ways and cheerfully 
said they wished to do their duty as soldiers, and con- 
tinued serving with the battalion, and I am glad to be 
able to place on record that these ten did very well after- 
wards in the field, one of them making the supreme 
sacrifice. Two only remained obdurate to all appeals, 
and insisted on being posted to a Labour unit, and I 
think Jewry should remember them to all time. Their 
names and numbers, and the evil which they did, are 
recorded in the chronicles of the battalion. They were 
turned out of the camp and drafted to a Labour unit 
at a moment's notice, just as if they had been lepers. 

Towards the end of April, 19 18, we were delighted to 



66 With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign 

welcome the 39th Battalion from England, under the 
command of Lieut. -Colonel Margolin, D.S.O., and 
with them as M.O. I was glad to see Captain R. 
Salaman. We gave the new arrivals a very hearty wel- 
come, the band of the 38th Battalion playing them into 
Camp amid great enthusiasm. 

There was much friendly rivalry between these Jewish 
Battalions, and honours were about easy in our sporting 
competitions. We gave one or two " At Homes," to 
which all Cairo seemed to flock, and I am sure our good 
Cairene friends were favourably impressed with what 
they saw of the Jewish Battalions at work and play. 

Just about this time we were visited at Helmieh by 
Dr. Weizmann, Mr. Joseph Cowen, and Mr. Aaronson. 
All three gave addresses to the men. Mr. Aaronson 
moved his audience to fury by graphically describing the 
torture which the Turks had inflicted on his aged father 
and young sister in Palestine, because they had dared 
to help England. Mr. Aaronson lived to see his home 
land freed from the Turk, but soon afterwards lost his 
life in an aeroplane disaster while crossing from England 
to France. 

Dr. Weizmann has done much and suffered much 
since he addressed us on that peaceful evening in the 
Egyptian desert. If he could have foreseen everything 
I doubt if even his undaunted soul would have faced un- 
blenched all the trials and tribulations which have fallen 
to his lot since he undertook the arduous task of leading 
his people back to the Land of Israel. His task has 
been, if anything, more difhcult than was that of the 
great Lawgiver. The latter had only to surmount the 



The Feast of the Passover 67 

obstinacy of one Pharaoh, while Dr. Weizmann had to 
overcome that of thousands — not a few of them being 
Jews ! 

What a pity it was that the modern leader had not the 
power to dispense a few of the plagues which Moses 
eventually found so efficacious. It is a striking testi- 
monial to the genius of Dr. Weizmann that so much has 
already been accomplished towards the Restoration ; 
the fact that the Jewish people are now within sight of 
their hearts' desire is, without doubt, mainly due to the 
patient, persistent, and able diplomacy of this brilliant 
leader. 

It must not be forgotten, however that he was at all 
times, and often in the teeth of bitter opposition, given 
the ready help and sympathy of Mr. Lloyd George and 
Sir Arthur Balfour. 



E2 



CHAPTER IX. 

We vSet Out for the Front. 

BY the end of May our training was completed and 
on the 5th June, 19 18, we left Egypt for Pales- 
tine, getting a very hearty " send-off " from Col. 
Margolin and the 39th Battalion. 

Before we set out I had the gratification of receiving 
from General Robertson the following letter : 

Savoy Hotel, 

Cairo, 
4TH June, 1918. 
Dear Colonel Patterson, 

On the eve of your departure for the front I 
desire to wish you and the officers and men of the 
38th Royal Fusiliers God-speed, and success in the 
tasks which you may be called upon to undertake 
in the future. 

From what I have seen of your battalion I know 
it will uphold the glorious traditions of the Regi- 
ment to which it has the honour to belong, and its 
career will be watched with interest and sympathy 
by its well-wishers in all parts of the world. 

Personally I am proud to have been associated 
with the battalion even for a short time. 

68 



We Set Out for the Front 69 

Its well-known good behaviour must be a source 
of satisfaction to you, because that will provide a 
sound foundation on which to build a solid battle 
discipline, while the progress it made in the train- 
ing at Helmieh augurs well for its future ejfficiency. 
Yours sincerely, 

(Signed) A. B. Robertson. 

Lieut-Col. J. H. Patterson, D.S.O., 
38th Battn., Royal Fusiliers, E.E.F. 

The Battalion entrained smoothly and quickly at the 
railway siding close to our camp and we were soon roll- 
ing onward to realize our ideals and aspirations in the 
Promised Land. 

Our Chaplain, who was a man of insight and vision, 
arranged that our trumpets should sound, and that a 
short prayer should be said by the troops as they 
entered, for the first time, the ancient land of their 
Fathers. 

All through the night, as we sped across the Sinai 
Desert seated in our open trucks, we could see the 
funnel of the engine belching forth a pillar of flame, and 
we were greatly reminded of the wanderings of the fore- 
fathers of these men in this very Desert, who in their 
night journeys were always guided by a pillar of fire. 
Nor did the simile cease as dawn broke, for then the 
pillar of fiame turned into a cloud of smoke shot up into 
the still morning air. 

Soon after sunrise we passed Gaza, the scene of 
Samson's exploits, and saw, in the distance, the hill to 
the top of which he carried the gates of the town. Gaza 



70 With the Judasans in the Palestine Campaign 

may be considered the bridgehead leading into or out 
of Egypt. In Biblical times it was always a thorn in 
the side of the Jews, and they were never able to capture 
it. It was, however, captured from the Philistines on 
various occasions both by the Egyptians on their ex- 
peditions into Syria and by the Syrians on their expedi- 
tions into Egypt. No army could afford to leave it 
untaken on their lines of communication. It will be 
remembered that we ourselves made two costly failures 
here in our first attempts to enter Palestine during the 
Great War. The third time of course we succeeded, 
and with its fall the whole plain of Philistia was at our 
mercy. 

As we rolled onward historical places cropped up 
every few miles and kept us spellbound with interest. 
Beersheba was away thirty miles to the east, and we 
hoped in good time to see Dan ; meanwhile the Shep- 
helah downs ran parallel to us, ending up with Mount 
Gezer where David won a victory over the Philistines. 
This hill was well known to every invading force that 
has passed through Palestine, and around its base 
gallant men of many nations have fallen. 

In the distance, like a cobalt mist, loomed the moun- 
tains of Ephraim and of Judaea, while the " utm.ost 
sea " occasionally shimmered on our left. 

About noon we steamed through a grove of olives 
into Ludd (the ancient Lydda), where we detrained. It 
was one of the hottest days I have ever experienced, 
and our march to Surafend, under a blazing midday 
midsummer sun, loaded up as we were with full kit, was 
a severe test of the endurance of the men. 



We Set Out for the Front 71 



Almost as soon as we reached our bivouac at Sura- 
fend the Jewish Colonists of Richon-le-Zion, Jaffa, 
Rechoboth and all the surrounding colonies came out 
in their hundreds with flags and banners, on foot, on 
horseback, and in chariots, to greet us, and show us how 
much they thought of their brethren who had come all 
the way from England to help them to redeem their 
country. Amongst the Zionists from Jaffa and Richon- 
le-Zion were many scores of both men and women 
who had already volunteered for service with the 
Army. 

It was an inspiring sight to see how these young men 
and women rode and managed their horses. No cowboy 
of the Western States of America could be more expert. 
It is quite evident that a new and free Jewish race is 
arising among the colonists of Palestine, for even the 
small children of eight and nine years of age can ride 
and manage horses with ease. We celebrated our first 
Sabbath in Palestine at Surafend, where special prayers 
for the occasion were recited, including one composed 
by the Haham Bashi of Egypt, Rabbi Simeon. 

Richon-le-Zion, besides sending its quota of young 
men and women to greet us, sent us also three casks of 
choice Richon wine, which in those thirsty days the 
battalion much appreciated. 

We remained at Surafend for three days, and during 
our stay there, were inspected in our bivouac by General 
AUenby, who again expressed himself as well pleased 
with all he saw. 

Major James de Rothschild came over from Jaffa, 
where he was then doing recruiting duty, and gave us a 



72 With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign 

God-speed as we left our pleasant surroundings at Sura- 
fend for our journey to the Front. 

We marched off at 3 o'clock on the afternoon of the 
9th June, and reached El Kubab at 8.15 the same 
evening. Personally I only went half-way, for I was 
recalled to Cairo to preside at a General Court- 
Martial assembled there for the trial of three Royal Air 
Force officers who had been performing some un- 
authorised stunts. I rejoined the Battalion at Umm 
Suffah, a few miles short of the Turkish lines. While 
the 38th was at this place there was an air raid on our 
lines, but no damage was done. 

From El Kubab the Battalion went to Beit Nuba. 
They left on the nth, and reached Harith the same 
day, where they came under the orders of Brigadier- 
General E. M. Morris, a first-rate soldier commanding 
the loth Irish Division. They marched out of Harith 
at 5 p.m. on the 12th, and arrived at Umm Suffah at 
10 p.m. the same day. 

We were now among the hills of Samaria and the 
transport was much delayed on this march owing to the 
frightfully rough and stony road. Several wheels got 
broken and, as a matter of fact, the transport, with the 
food, etc., did not arrive until the early morning of the 
13th. 

On the 13th June the Battalion was placed in 
Divisional Reserve. On Saturday the 1 5th it first came 
under shell fire while we were holding Divine Service. 
Shells exploded quite close to the men, but no damage 
was done, and the battalion took its baptism of fire quite 
cheerfully. 



We Set Out for the Front 73 

During the week that followed the Companies were 
posted to units already in the line, to gain some know- 
ledge of the country, and to learn the nature of the 
duties to be carried out in the fighting zone. 

Before we took our place in the line we were inspected 
by the G.O.C. loth Division, who, when the inspection 
was over, expressed himself as very pleased with the 
general appearance and steadiness of the men. 

On the 27th June A, B, and C Companies were de- 
tailed to garrison supporting points on the front occupied 
by the 31st Infantry Brigade, to which we were now 
attached, and which was under the command of Briga- 
dier-General W. B. Emery, a genial gunner. 

Battalion Headquarters and D Company moved up to 
the front on the 30th June and took over the second 
line of supporting points, from a place known as the 
Wadi Tiyur to the Wadi Belat, just to the west of the 
main road running from Jerusalem to Nablus (the 
ancient Shechem), where it cuts the Wadi Jib some 
twenty miles north of the Holy City. 

On the 3rd July the Battalion relieved 2/101 
Grenadiers in the left sector of the 31st Infantry Brigade 
front, the relief being commenced after dark and com- 
pleted by 10.15 P-"^- 

We found the piece of country we took over most in- 
teresting. We occupied the summits of the hills facing 
the Turkish position, and were responsible for some 
three or four miles of front. 

Our right rested upon Jiljilia, a pretty hamlet of 
Samaria, and our left upon Abwein, a strong, stone-built 
Arab village, nestling half-way down a steep hillside, sur- 



74 With the Judseans in the Palestine Campaign 

rounded by fig and olive trees. Our line on the hills 
between these two places twisted and turned about like 
a snake, for of course we conformed to the nature of the 
ground. Our frontage towards the enemy descended 
into the valley, some 200 feet below, in a series of rocky 
terraces, each having a drop of from six to twenty feet. 
These terraces and hill slopes were dotted with olive 
trees. A wadi, called the Wadi Gharib, ran through 
the narrow valley which lay at the bottom, and then 
there was a very steep ascent up the opposite side to the 
Turkish line. 

Our front wire was actually a few hundred yards down 
over the crest of the hill on the Turkish side, for from 
this position we had a better field of fire , 

When we took over this position from Lieut. -Colonel 
Strong, the O.C. of the 2/101 Grenadiers, a consider- 
able amount of work necessarily remained to be done, 
building stone sangars, digging trenches, making road- 
ways, and generally improving the position in every 
possible way. 

Our line was divided into four sections, one company 
guarding each part. Major Neill on the extreme right 
holding Jiljilia, and Captain Brown with his Company 
in Abwein. 

We at once assumed a vigorous offensive policy ; our 
patrols were pushed out every night down into the 
valley, and often up to the Turkish wire on the opposite 
hills. During daylight only the Observation Posts were 
manned along our front wire. A couple of men in each 
vantage point, equipped with field glasses or telescopes, 
and provided with a telephone, kept us informed of any 



We Set Out for the Front 75 

movement in the Turkish lines. As soon as darkness 
had fallen each company marched its men over the crest 
of the hills and took up position in the sangers and 
defence posts along the barbed wire fence. All night 
long work and building, etc., went on, the unfortunate 
men getting very little rest. Listening posts were 
established well out beyond the wire, and strong patrols 
went down the ledges looking for trouble in Turkish 
territory. Our aggressive policy thoroughly scared the 
Turks, so much so that they never once attempted to 
come anywhere near our front. 

Just as dawn was breaking, having made certain by 
means of patrols and scouts that no Turks were in the 
neighbourhood, the troops returned to their bivouacs 
behind the crest, leaving only the Observation Posts on 
the watch. 

I had a very good Intelligence Officer in Lieutenant 
Simon Abrahams, who explored " no man's land " very 
methodically, and who earned a high measure of praise 
from our Brigade Commander. Abrahams would go 
out with a daring scout like Pte. Angel (who afterwards 
won the M.C.) and sketch roads, routes, tracks, 
etc., right under the very noses of the Turks, and so 
careful was he, and so secretive, that his presence on the 
debatable ground was never even suspected by the 
enemy. 

It might be thought that when the men had finished 
their night's vigil they would be allowed to rest, but 
instead of this, as soon as a hasty breakfast had been 
swallowed, they immediately had to fix up barbed wire 
entanglements, build stonework redoubts, gun emplace- 



76 With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign 

ments, make railways down the hills, or bury animals 
which had died or been killed in somebody else's camp. 

Anything and everything was demanded from the bat- 
talion, and every call, no matter how distasteful, was 
responded to with readiness, if not with cheerfulness. 
All the time we v/ere holding this bit of the Nablus 
front, from the Wadi Jib to the Wadi Gharib, the men 
were constantly running about on arduous jobs and as 
busy as bees. 

About this time there was a rumour that we were 
soon to take the offensive, and I was especially pleased 
when I got a confidential communication from our 
Brigade Commander ordering me to prepare a careful 
reconnaissance of the country to our left front, where 
the surprise attack on the Turks was to be made. A 
good track up to the enemy wire, concealed as much as 
possible from his view, had to be found, the general idea 
being that once there we would make a sweep to the 
right along the Turkish front opposed to our lines. I 
detailed Captain T. B. Brown for this important task, 
which he carried out admirably. A suitable route by 
which to return with the expected prisoners and loot 
had also to be discovered and sketched, and Lieutenant 
Simon Abrahams was in his element when I selected 
him for this adventure. 

The hope of coming to grips with the Turks buoyed 
us up considerably, and the prospect of a battle in which 
we felt sure we would do well helped us through the 
trying and weary round of daily routine. 

Our Brigadier was a soldier whom we all liked, but 
he had a mania for putting up barbed-wire fences, and 



We Set Out for the Front 77 

at last we erected so much on our front that we caused 
a serious shortage of this material in the E.E.F., and 
further wiring was prohibited. 

On the loth July our Transport was shelled. Luckily- 
only one mule was killed and one wounded. 

We were heavily bombarded by guns of various 
calibres at 2.30 in the morning on July 14th, but it was 
an absolute waste on the part of the Turks, for not 
a single casualty of any kind was sustained. 

On this day the Turks and Germans attacked in the 
Jordan Valley and got severely mauled by the Anzac 
Mounted Division. We, too, expected an attack, but 
soon after dawn the shelling ceased and the situation 
became normal. 

While the Battalion was holding the forward trenches 
I always made a round of the posts every night to see 
that every one was on the alert and that they knew what 
to do in case of attack. 

I made the men place white stones along the wire so 
that they could take aim on them in case of a Turkish 
assault in the dark, and arranged bombing parties at 
various points ; in fact, we were all ready to give the 
enemy a very warm reception if he ever came our way. 

Once, on going my rounds, I heard a noise a little way 
down the hill, so I ordered a young soldier to throw a 
bomb ; he failed to get the pin quite out and slipped the 

dud " into his great-coat pocket ; fortunately, a ser- 
geant standing near saw what had happened and, on 
examining the " dud," found the pin practically 
released ! The slightest movements would have set the 
bomb off and we should all have been blown sky high. 



78 With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign 

No matter at what hour I returned from my tour of 
inspection along the battle line, I always found my faith- 
ful orderly, Corporal Hutchinson, awaiting me with a 
" nightcap " such as could only be mixed by the dex- 
terous hand of an old campaigner. Hutchinson served 
with me when I commanded a battalion of the Irish 
Fusiliers, and followed my fortunes when I went to 
command the Dublin Fusiliers. On asking him if he 
would go with me to the Jewish Battalion, he replied, 
' ' Oh, be the hokey ! — but shure, Sir, that's where you'll 
be wanting- me the most." 

Hutchinson remained with me until we set out for the 
Jordan Valley, when he was taken ill and invalided home. 
I missed him sadly, for he used to remain by my tent 
door and ward off any undesirable intruder like a well- 
trained watch dog. A more faithful, loyal and trust- 
worthy soldier never shouldered a rifle. 



CHAPTER X. 

The Nablus Front. 

ON the 17th July we were transferred to the 60th 
Division and attached to one of its Brigades. 

We were very sorry to leave the loth Division, for we 
had made many good friends all round, and our Divi- 
sional and Brigade Commanders had always treated us 
fairly and justly. 

On the evil day of our transfer a fatal accident befel 
Lieutenant B. Wolffe. He was in charge of the trans- 
port wagons and was engaged in loading up supplies at 
the Ordnance Depot. The drivers were, of course, dis- 
mounted and standing by their teams while the work of 
loading was going ahead. A sudden noise frightened 
one ot the teams, and off the four horses careered at a 
mad gallop. They were heading straight for some 
troops standing near, and Lieutenant Wolfife, seeing 
this, made a gallant attempt to stop them by springing 
at the heads of the leaders as they dashed past. Un- 
fortunately they were going too fast for him, and he was 
dragged under their feet, the wagon passing over his 
body. 

I visited him in hospital , as did also our Chaplain and 
others, and we cheered him up as much as possible, but 
he died on the 20th, and his death cast a gloom over the 

79 



8o With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign 

whole battalion, for he was a most conscientious officer, 
a good Jew, and well liked by all ranks. He was buried 
with full Jewish rites, a " Minyan " from the battalion 
attending. 

The Commander-in-Chief in General Orders eulogised 
the gallant attempt which he made when he sacrificed his 
own life in his plucky effort to save others. 

On the 24th July I was requested by Dr. Weizmann to 
bring a representative party of officers and men of the 
battalion to a most interesting ceremony at Jerusalem — 
the laying of the foundation stones of the Hebrew 
University bn Mount Scopus. 

In the days of her past greatness the law was ex- 
pounded at Jerusalem. It is quite possible that again, 
even in our own days, we shall hear a message of peace 
and goodwill issue forth from the Temple of Learning 
overlooking the Holy City. 

The site chosen for the building is a magnificent one. 
It looks down on the domes and minarets of Jerusalem 
on the one side, and, on the other, overlooks the Jordan 
Valley and the Dead Sea, with the green hills of Moab 
looming in the distance. 

The ceremony itself was a most interesting one. 
The Commander-in-Chief was present ; also all the civil 
and religious heads of the Jewish, Christian, and 
Moslem communities, while a vast multitude of people 
of all creeds thronged along the slopes of Scopus from 
Jerusalem — a seemingly good omen for future peace and 
concord. It was a truly inspiring and historic occasion, 
and augured well for the future greatness of the Univer- 
sity, Stones were laid by the Christian Bishop in 



The Nablus Front 8i 

Jerusalem and by the Mufti (the Chief Mohammedan 
dignitary). One was also laid by Dr. Weizmann in the 
name of the Jewish Regiment, while what perhaps 
appealed to me most of all was the part taken by Jewish 
children in laying a stone representing the Hope of 
Israel. 

On my return to the Battalion I found the Head- 
quarters encamped in a pretty grove of olives on the 
Inniskilling Road, some two miles behind the firing line. 
While we were here our Chaplain, the Rev. L. A. Falk, 
one day discovered a red granite column embedded in 
the side of a hill. This we unearthed and, on measuring 
it, found that it was about 12 feet high and about 2 feet 
in diameter. We erected it in our camp in a grove of 
olive trees. I much perturbed our good Rabbi by 
chaffingly suggesting to him that we had been erecting 
an altar to Baal, in a grove, in one of the high places ! 
Our find got noised abroad, and the Governor of Jeru- 
salem, Colonel Storrs, with his assistant. Lord William 
Percy, motored out from Jerusalem to see it. They had 
lunch with us, and I was delighted to note that Lord 
William Percy took a keen interest in preserving the 
fauna of Palestine, and had induced General Allenby to 
impose strict limitations on the shooting of birds and 
beasts. 

Our transfer to the 60th Division did not, for the time 
at least, result in any change in our position in the line, 
but, almost from the moment we joined the new Brigade, 
we felt the hostility shown towards all things Jewish by 
the Brigade Commander. I endeavoured to counter his 
prejudice against the battalion, during a friendly after- 



82 With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign 

dinner chat, by pointing out the immense debt we owed 
to the ' ' People of the Book ' ' for all they have done 
towards civilising and humanizing the world for thou- 
sands of years. During their struggle for existence 
through centuries of exile, in countries where every form 
of torture and repression had been in vogue against them , 
they never lost their age-long Hope of a Restoration. 
The General seemed, like many others, to have a very 
vague idea as to the aim of the Zionists, which is simply 
to establish a National Home in Palestine where Jewish 
life, rooted in its own soil, would have an opportunity 
of developing on modern lines, in accordance with its 
own ideals. I gave the Brigadier some new ideas on 
Jews, but all my eloquence was in vain, for I failed to 
convert him, and he hinted that I was only wasting my 
time by being mixed up with a Jewish unit ! 

But although the Brigadier was right in one way when 
he said ' ' You will get nothing out of it," yet in another 
way he was altogether wrong, for I have got a very 
great deal out of my service with this Jewish Battalion. 
I have had the satisfaction of proving that, in spite of 
all obstacles placed in its path, this new unit showed that 
it was worthy of the best traditions of the Maccabasans, 
those doughty Jewish soldiers who, on many a well- 
fought field, defeated the legions of Antiochus and freed 
Jud^a from a foreign yoke. 

But it is not by fighting alone that a good battalion is 
proved, and the Jewish unit was tested in many ways 
as this record will show. 

There was no respite from such work as digging 
trenches, building stone sangars, and constructing roads 



The Nablus Front 83 

along the hillsides, by day and by night ; nevertheless, 
every soldierly duty allotted was carried out cheerfully 
and promptly. 

The rumour which had got abroad about the attack 
on the Turkish trenches opposite our front now crystal- 
lised into definite shape, and the actual date of the attack 
was often hinted at. 

A few days before the assault was to take place our 
Brigadier gave us the special job of making stone em- 
placements, almost within sight of the Turks, just above 
the village of Jiljilia, and as we fondly hoped we would 
have a place in the assaulting column, all hands worked 
with a will, especially our two Christian Lithuanians, 
Stenelus and Sterilitis ; these men amazed the British 
gunners by the ease with which they placed huge blocks 
of stone in position — all done by sheer strength of muscle 
combined with hearty good will. 

This particular piece of work was under the super- 
vision of Major Neill, and, as it had to be done in record 
time, his task was no easy one, but, fortunately for him 
and his Company, the Turks never spotted what was 
going on, and before we left these parts Major Neill 
saw the guns safely emplaced without suffering a single 
casualty. 

All this stone work on the steep sides of a hill, coupled 
with heavy marching to and fro, and scrambling up and 
down, was not good for the men's clothing, which soon 
got worn, ragged and dirty. A false step on a slippery 
slope meant that the seat of a man's flimsy shorts was 
rent asunder, and it was quite usual to see the tail of a 
shirt hanging out ! Yet, no matter how ragged and dis- 

F2 



84 With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign 

reputable-looking the men were, I found it impossible to 
get any renewal of clothing, although it was freely handed 
out to other units. 

It seemed as if it were a joy to some people to be able 
to withhold necessary articles of clothing, such as shirts, 
boots, socks, shorts, etc., and keep the men working 
on dirty jobs, and then say with glee, " Look at the 
ragged dirty Jews." 

It must be remembered that we could not obtain 
enough water even to wash our faces, for every drop 
had to be carried up the precipitous sides of the hills on 
camels as far as they could clamber, and then by mules 
and donkeys up the steeper parts. Often there was a 
shortage of the precious fiuid even for tea-making. 

I wrote urgent letters again and again, and protested 
that the men were unfit to march for want of shoes, and 
that many of them were actually exposing their naked- 
ness for want of clothing. I sent my Quartermaster, 
Lieutenant S my the, day after day, to the Ordnance 
Stores trying to extract necessary articles, but all in 
vain ! We were nobody's children, and consequently we 
could get nothing. I saw the Brigadier, and repre- 
sented to him that in many cases our men were ragged, 
shirtless, sockless, and bootless, but if he made any 
representations on our behalf there was no result. 

Had we belonged to a Brigade instead of being merely 
' ' attached ' ' most of our troubles would never have 
arisen, but the policy adopted by the local Staff was to 
keep us as " wandering Jews," pitched from one 
Brigade to another, in a continuous round of General 
Post. 



The Nablus Front 85 

It was a heart-breaking experience as any soldier will 
understand. 

At last I rode over to my old Gallipoli friend, Colonel 
O'Hara, who was on the Staff of the loth Division, and 
he, like the good soldier that he is, helped me out of my 
difficulty as far as it lay in his power. 

What a difference it makes when one meets a good 
Staff Officer ! Not nearly enough care is given to the 
task of selecting the right men for this all-important 
branch of the Army. They are too often selected for 
any reason except the right one, viz., efficiency. 

The Brigade to which we were attached was fortunate 
in having at least one good Staff Officer. The Brigade 
Major was a thoroughly capable soldier, and always out 
to help in every way in his power. 

The Brigadier often caused me much inward amuse- 
ment by pointedly appealing in my presence to the 
judgment of a certain Colonel X, an officer junior to 
me, who was in command of a section on our right. 
If I had a sangar built which commanded a good 
field of fire, it was sure to be found fault with, and 
another had to be built in a site chosen by their joint 
wisdom. 

One night the gallant Brigadier came across the spot 
where I had my outlook post established ; he thought 
it was in the wrong place, of course, and consulted his 
friend, Colonel X, as to where it should be. 

Don't you think it ought to be on the top of this 
house ? ' ' said the General. The Colonel climbed to the 
top of the house, gazed round in the inky darkness, 
came down again, and said he quite agreed with the 



86 With the Judseans in the Palestine Campaign 

General, as all good, well-trained Colonels, with an eye 
to the main chance, invariably do ! 

I was then ordered to put the outlook on the top of the 
house, which had a flat roof, where a man would be 
seen by every Turk for miles round ! Needless to say, 
I never placed an observer in this absurd position. 

Just about this time one of my men, quite a youth, 
was found asleep at his post, and as this is about the 
most serious crime of which a sentry can be guilty, he 
was tried by General Court Martial and sentenced to 
death. 

A few days later a telegram came from the Provost 
Marshal ordering me to send the condemned man under 
strong escort, with two senior non-commissioned ofificers, 
to the prisoners' compound some distance away. I 
feared that the unfortunate lad would be shot at dawn, 
and as I knew he had been working exceedingly hard, 
day and night, for 48 hours before he was found asleep 
at his post, and was of good character and very young, 
I determined to try to save him. I therefore sent a 
private wire to General Allenby asking him on these 
grounds to reprieve him. 

My friend the Brigadier saw the wire before it was 
despatched and stopped it. However, one of my 
men in the Signal Office told me of this, so I imme- 
diately wrote a confidential letter to General Allenby, 
gave it to a motor-cyclist, and sent him off post haste 
to G.H.Q., some thirty miles away, telling him to 
ride for all he was worth, as a man's life hung on his 
speed. 

I am glad to say that not only did General Allenby 



The Nablus Front 87 

reprieve the man and reduce the sentence to a certain 
number of years' imprisonment, but he suspended even 
that punishment, provided the man proved himself 
worthy of forgiveness by doing his duty faithfully in the 
battalion. 

The young soldier returned to us overjoyed and full 
of gratitude for his release. He proved himself worthy 
in every respect, and was never afterwards called upon 
to do a day's imprisonment. 

Not satisfied with having held up the wire, the 
Brigadier motored some miles away to report the matter 
to the Divisional General, Sir John Shea. 

I was duly haled before the General, not knowing for 
what reason, until he said, " You know you will get 
yourself into trouble if you go sending telegrams direct 
to the Commander-in-Chief. " It then dawned on me for 
the first time why I had been sent for. 

I explained all the circumstances to the General, and 
said that, in such an emergency, I felt justified in what 
I had done. Besides, I said, I had not addressed the 
Commander-in-Chief as such, but as General Allenby, 
an officer whom I had known for many years. I also 
confessed that, when I found that the wire had been 
blocked, I had immediately written a letter of appeal to 
General Allenby, and had sent it off by a special cyclist 
despatch rider. 

The General pretended to be so horrified at this that 
he needed a cocktail to revive him — in which I may add 
he asked me to join him. I do not know what he 
thought of the Brigadier's action, but I can leave the 
reader to imagine what I thought of it 1 



88 With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign 

A few days later, when I was breakfasting with 
General Shea, I was much amused when he told me that 
when he was at home his children insisted on his reading 
a lion story to them every evening out of ' ' The Man- 
Eat ers of Tsavo " ! 

From the frequent consultations between the 
Brigadier and his friend Colonel X I felt that something 
was on foot, but little realised that it was a matter which, 
if carried out, would strike a blow at the very identity 
of the Jewish Battalions, This, however, soon became 
evident. 

Shortly after my interview with the Divisional General 
I was called to the telephone to speak to the Brigadier, 
who said, apparently with great satisfaction, " I want to 
tell you that your Battalion and the 39th Battalion 
(which was then on its way up from Egypt) are to be 
brigaded with two West Indian Battalions, and you are 
to be placed under the command of Colonel X, who is 
now a General and has come to live near my camp. 
You will find General X a very nice man." I thanked 
the Brigadier for his interesting information and hung 
up the receiver. 

It was now clearly my duty to stop this second 
attempt to destroy the identity of the Jewish Bat- 
talions in Palestine or resign my command. It was 
no easy task to achieve, because our good friends had 
worked underground all the time, and sprang this sur- 
prise upon me only when it became an accomplished 
fact ; Colonel X had actually been appointed to the com- 
mand, a Brigade Major and a Staff Captain had been 
posted to the new Brigade, while the transport and 



The Nablus Front 89 

ordnance section of the formation had been already 
organized and sent to Jericho. 

The Staff at G.H.Q. had, of course, arranged the 
whole affair, and it would be no easy task to get the 
Commander-in-Chief to countermand the Brigade 
formation. I felt that a very firm stand must be taken 
if this blow aimed at Jewish prestige was to be averted. 

I accordingly wrote a strong letter direct to General 
AUenby, pointing out that, if such a scheme were carried 
out, it would involve very grave issues. The Adjutant- 
General at the War Ofhce had promised that the Jewish 
Battalions would be formed into a Jewish Brigade, and 
to depart from this declared policy would be looked upon 
as a direct slight, both by the Jewish Battalions and by 
Jewry the world over. Loth as I was to worry the 
Commander-in-Chief, I considered it my duty to him, 
to my men, to myself, and to Jewry to see that Jewish 
interests were not trampled upon without a protest while 
I retained command- I requested therefore that the 
orders should be cancelled, and, if not, that I should be 
relieved of my command. 

That my attitude on this question was correct was 
proved by the receipt of a most friendly reply from 
General Allenby, in which he thanked me for my letter 
and said : 

I see the undesirability of brigading Jewish with 
West Indian Battalions, and I have decided not to 
do so. I shall form a provisional Brigade of the two 
Jewish Battalions until a complete Jewish Brigade 
can be formed, and they will be under you. 



90 With the Judseans in the Palestine Campaign 

The whole tone of this letter showed that the 
C.-in-C. had been badly advised by his Staff in this 
attempted amalgamation of the Jewish with the West 
Indian Battalions. 

A few hours after I had received General Allenby's 
communication a wire came from G.H.Q. cancelling all 
the orders which had already been issued with regard to 
the formation of the new Brigade. 

Thus I won the second round in my fight for fair play 
for the Jewish Battalions and Jewish ideals generally. 

I realized that my stand for justice would be bitterly 
resented by certain individuals at G.H.Q., and that, 
sooner or later, I would be penalised for having upset 
their attempted little coup. 



CHAPTER XL 

We March to the Jordan Valley. 

WITHIN two days of the receipt of General 
Allenby's letter cancelling the mixed Brigade 
formation, we were suddenly ordered to leave the cool 
and pleasant hill-tops of Ephraim and march down to 
the sweltering heat and fever -stricken desolation of the 
Jordan Valley, 1,300 feet below sea level, in the very 
hottest and most unhealthy month of the year. 

We, of course, took our orders for the deadly Valley 
quite cheerfully, feeling that it was " not ours to reason 
why," but we did feel that it was a blow below the belt 
to be taken out of the line on the Nablus front, just as an 
attack, for which we had done most of the spade work, 
was about to be made. 

Had we remained with General Emery, I feel sure 
that he would have given us a chance to show our 
mettle in the raid which was timed to take place on 1 2th 
August, 191 8. 

Even when we were transferred to the Brigade in the 
60th Division we still looked forward to taking part in 
this move, and, as I have already mentioned, we slaved 
away at every kind of preparation for the affair, but, alas, 
we were taken out of the line, and ordered to march to 
a new front, just three days before the attack. 

91 



92 With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign 

It almost looked as if our enemies feared we would do 
well, and our prowess would then get noised abroad to 
the discomfiture of our detractors. 

On the 9th August we marched from our pretty camp 
at Inniskilling Road, where we had revelled in the grate- 
ful shade of the olive trees which abound there, and took 
the road, bag and baggage, for Ram Allah, our first 
halt, where we were to bivouac. Here we were to get 
further orders from the G.O.C. 53rd Division, whose 
headquarters were in that ancient town. It was mid- 
night when we got to our camp, where we found that 
someone had carefully chosen a site for us which was 
literally one mass of stones. It must have been the 
favourite place of execution in olden days when stoning 
to death was in vogue, and the stones had never since 
been gathered up ! There was no grumbling, however ; 
every man cleared a little patch whereon to lie down on 
his waterproof sheet, and slept the sleep of the tired. 
We remained at this delectable spot for the best part of 
two days, and on the afternoon of the nth we marched 
to Jerusalem, where we came under the orders of the 
Desert Mounted Corps. 

We bivouacked about a mile or so short of Jerusalem, 
and, as the camp was reached long after dark, the City 
remained hidden until dawn next morning. I had a 
cheery and welcome dinner the evening we arrived with 
Lieutenant- General Sir Philip Chetwode, who com- 
manded the 20th Corps, at his headquarters at the 
German Hospice on the Mount of Olives. 

I was awake about 5 o'clock next morning, just as the 
mist was beginning to disperse, and woke up everybody 



We March to the Jordan Valley 93 

all round about me to have their first look at the Holy- 
City. My officers were all very tired, so merely gave 
one peep at it out of sleepy eyes, and then buried them- 
selves once more in their blankets. Later on the men 
spent the whole of the forenoon visiting Jerusalem, and 
especially the celebrated Wailing Wall, which is the only 
authentic portion of the Temple enclosure which still 
remains. Its huge blocks of stone seem to be as in- 
destructible as the indomitable race which designed, 
shaped, and placed them in position so many centuries 
ago. The Jewish " bevel " is a noticeable feature in 
the stones. Here the Jews for nearly two thousand 
years have wept and wailed, placing their foreheads 
against the walls and copiously watering the masonry 
with their tears. The wailing of the Jews at this remnant 
of their Temple is one of the most pathetic and curious 
sights I have ever witnessed. 

The Jewish mendicants who are allowed to congre- 
gate in the vicinity of the Wailing Wall are not a pleasing 
spectacle, and I hope that one of the first acts of the 
Zionists will be the removal of this blot on Jewry. 

Bethlehem can be reached in a few minutes by motor 
from Jerusalem, and near to it Rachel's tomb stands 
by the roadside, while almost opposite is the field in 
which Ruth gleaned. 

At 4.30 in the afternoon of this day (i 2th August) we 
marched off under the walls of Jerusalem, past the 
Damascus Gate, skirted the Garden of Gethsemane, and 
wended our way on to the road which would take us 
down to Jericho. It was a lovely sight as we halted and 
looked back over the Valley of Jehoshaphat, with the 



94 With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign 

brook Kidron between us and the walls of the venerable 
city, the beautiful Mosque of Omar overshadowing the 
Temple area, the mysterious Golden Gates fronting us, 
sealed up, and the westering sun gilding Mount Zion. 

I have seen Jerusalem since from many points, but 
the view from the corner of the Jericho Road, where it 
skirts the Mount of Olives on the descent to Bethany, 
is, to my mind, by far the most beautiful and impressive. 
I halted every platoon there, so that all might look well 
at the glory of it — a glory which, alas, some of them 
would never again return to look upon. 

We bivouacked about three miles beyond Jerusalem, 
and next morning (13th August) marched through 
Bethany while it was yet dark, and reached our bivouac 
at Talaat ed Dumm at 2.30 in the afternoon. I reported 
our arrival to General Chauvel, of the Australian 
Mounted Division, whose headquarters were at this 
place, and from his hut I had a splendid view of the 
beauty and desolation of the Jordan Valley which lay 
spread out before me. 

Talaat ed Dumm is a weird uncanny spot. It is 
mentioned in the Book of Joshua as Adummim, and is 
the gate of the Judaean wilderness. The red and yellow 
barren hills and rocky narrow valleys have a peculiar 
desolation all their own, while the heat at the time we 
were there was scorching. 

By some jugglery on the part of the Staff, all our 
transport animals had been taken away from us, and we 
found ourselves stranded without a particle of shade, 
shelter, or food on this God-forsaken spot, sweltering 
in the fierce rays of the burning sun. At last, towards 



We March to the Jordan Valley 95 

sundown, our baggage and rations arrived in motor 
lorries, dinners and teas were rolled into one, and peace 
reigned once more in this drowsy wilderness. 

'When the terrific heat had become somewhat less 
scorching, accompanied by the Padre, I wandered up to 
an ancient ruin which topped the summit of a hill 
dominating the roadway. This proved to be the castle 
of a redoubtable robber chief, who had lived here in 
bygone days and taken his toll from every traveller. 
From time immemorial this had been the stronghold of 
the robber bands who waylaid, robbed, and even mur- 
dered those journeying to and fro between Jerusalem and 
Jericho. It was close to this bandit's castle that the 
Good Samaritan poured oil and wine into the wounds of 
the unfortunate wayfarer who had fallen among thieves. 
It was an ideal spot for a robber's lair, because it com- 
mands a full view of what is practically the only route 
for caravans through this dreary barren wilderness. 

We were not sorry to leave our camp at dawn, and 
strode out so merrily that we overtook a Cavalry Brigade 
which blocked our way ! As we marched down the steep 
descent to the Jordan Valley we had on our left the Wadi 
Kelt, which wound its tortuous course through the 
boulders at the bottom, hundreds of feet sheer below us. 
Some people say that it was here that the Prophet Elijah 
was fed by the ravens, but it has been satisfactorily 
proved that the brook Cherith, where Elijah hid, is 
now known as the Wadi Fusail. It runs into the 
Jordan from the westward, near a place called the rock 
of Oreb. 

This suggested an idea to me that the " ravens 



96 With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign 

spoken of in the Bible were not birds but people, for the 
word " Oreb " means a raven. Now we know there 
was a prince called Oreb, for we have an account of his 
death in Judges, Chapter 7, Verse 25. It is also a 
well-known fact that in the East tribes take their names 
from their prince or chief man, so that in all probability 
there was a tribe called Orbim (the plural of " oreb " 
or raven). 

The place where Prince Oreb was slain was the rock 
of Oreb, and it is known to this day as ' ' Tel el Orbaim. ' * 
Moreover, this place is in Gilead, which was Elijah's 
old home, so it was quite natural that he should flee to 
this neighbourhood and be fed with flesh and bread, 
night and morning, by his friends the Orbim, or 
" Ravens.'* 

How similar, too, are the words used in the 4th and 
9th verses of ist Kings, Chapter 17 : "I have 
commanded the ravens to feed thee there," and 

I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain 
thee! " 

Can it be possible that the ravens were people and 
not birds, and that our old and learned translators fell 
into the error of thinking that they were birds, because 
they did not know of the possible existence of a tribe 
called " Orbim " or " Ravens "? 

We continued our march down through the Judaean 
wilderness, the place where the High Priest yearly 
turned loose the Scapegoat which bore on its head the 
sins of the Children of Israel. 

Occasionally, away to our right, between the desolate, 
dusty, sulphurous-looking hills, we caught a momentary 





THE JERUSALEM-JERICHO LIOAD 




NEAR THE WADI KELT 

{Seepage 95) 



We March to the Jordan Valley 97 

glimpse of the emerald sheen of the Dead Sea, while 
away on our left on the edge of the valley, stood out the 
Mount of Temptation. 

The moment we got down to the Jordan Valley (or 
Ghor, as the Arabs call it) the real trials of the men 
began. The heat was intense, and the going became 
very heavy, for we had no longer a good metalled road 
on which to march. Dust lay a foot deep on the path ; 
it was exceedingly fine and looked like the best pow- 
dered cement. As the men marched clouds of it arose 
and choked them, while their feet were actually sucked 
down at each step, and an effort had to be made to draw 
the foot out again, as if some devil were below, pulling 
at the sole of the boot. 

The sixteen platoons forming the battalion marched 
well apart in order to evade as much of this blinding, 
choking, sulphurous dust as possible. 

Jericho, the city of the Palms, lay a little to our right. 
We passed its outskirts and halted for a rest under Old 
Jericho, the walls of which the Bible tells us miraculously 
fell to Joshua's trumpets over 3,000 years ago. This 
was a thought which acted as a spur to every Jewish 
soldier , and although the march was a hard one and the 
worst of it had yet to be done, the men came through 
the ordeal triumphantly, and very few dropped out by 
the way. Those who did fall by the wayside were helped 
along by our Padre, the Rev. L. A. Falk, who gave up 
his horse to the footsore and carried the pack and rifle 
of the weary, thus cheering them along into Camp. This 
time it was the Priest who proved the Good Samaritan on 
the road to Jericho. 



98 With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign 

Soon after we recommenced our march from under the 
walls of old Jericho a huge black column of fine dust, 
whose top was lost in the Heavens, arose in front of us 
and gyrated slowly and gracefully as our vanguard, 
leading us onward to our bivouac on the banks of a cool 
and pleasant brook, where it vanished. I felt that this 
was a good omen for our success in the Jordan Valley, 
for it was a case of the Children of Israel being led once 
more by a pillar of cloud. 

The Headquarters of the Australian Mounted Divi- 
sion was close beside our bivouac, and here I had a very 
welcome breakfast with Major-General H. W. Hodg- 
son, its capable and genial Commander. The General 
told me that he would review the battalion on the follow- 
ing afternoon, on its march out to the new camping 
ground on the Auja. 

Next morning, while the men were resting and re- 
freshing themselves on the banks of the Nueiameh 
(for so the cool stream was named), I rode down the 
Valley to the eastward of Jericho, accompanied by our 
Padre. 

We waded through the Wadi Kelt, luxuriant grass 
growing where the water had overflowed its banks, 
showing how fruitful the Valley would be if it were 
irrigated. We searched the plain to discover, if pos- 
sible, some traces of the ancient Gilgal, Joshua's 
G.H.Q., and eventually we came upon what we took 
to be the site, some three miles to the south-east of Old 
Jericho. At all events we found some very ancient 
stonework buried in grass-grown mounds just about 
where Gilgal might be looked for, and I feel sure that 



We March to the Jordan Valley 99 

if excavations were carried out here sorne very inter- 
esting discoveries would be made. 

After we had briefly examined the ruins, I suggested 
to the Padre that we should go and breakfast in Jericho, 
if indeed we could find a caravanserai there, so in 
search of a hostelry we rode into the modern city of 
the Palms. 

It proved to be but a poor tumble-down jumble of 
buildings, as might have been expected. However, as 
we rode along, we came upon a somewhat pretentious 
looking building on which was painted " The Gilgal 
Hotel." Whatever doubt there may have been about 
the ancient Gilgal, here at any rate was a modern one, 
the discovery of which at this moment was most oppor- 
tune, for we were both decidedly hungry after our 
explorations. 

As we rode into the courtyard a dozen Arab urchins 
who had been lounging about made a dash for our 
horses, each eager to grasp the reins in the hope of 
some " baksheesh." An elderly dame, on hearing the 
scuffle, emerged from a doorway, scattered the surplus 
boys, and called loudly, " Victoria, Victoria." A 
musical voice from a room above responded to this 
familiar name, and, on looking up, we saw a buxom, 
olive-tinted damsel step on to the balcony. A voluble 
dialogue then took place between mother and daughter, 
the result of which was that Victoria, in excellent 
English, invited us up to breakfast. We had a most 
sumptuous feast, or so it appeared to us, inured as we 
were to plain Camp fare. I was particularly pleased 
with the flavour of the honey, which Victoria informed 

G2 



100 With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign 

me was taken from a hive in the garden. The milk, 
too, was good and plentiful, so we had at last reached 
the " land flowing with milk and honey." 

Before we left, I asked our fair hostess how it came 
about that she, a Syrian damsel, was known as 
Victoria, to which she promptly replied, " Because I am 
Queen of Jericho." 

Some time afterwards I made a special visit to Old 
Jericho. Naturally, during the 3,000 odd years that have 
elapsed since its capture by Joshua, the old city has got 
silted up and the place has been covered over by soil 
washed down from the Judaean hills ; but just before the 
War a party of Antiquarians commenced excavation 
work and exposed several buildings of the old city, some 
twenty or thirty feet below the surface of the ground. 
There the lintels and door-posts of wood may still be 
seen embedded in the brickwork, but they are all turned 
into charcoal, probably from the fire which consumed 
the city by Joshua's command. 

It will be remembered that the rebuilding of Jericho 
was forbidden under a terrible curse, " Cursed be the 
man before the Lord that riseth up and buildeth this 
city Jericho ; he shall lay the foundation thereof in his 
firstborn, and in his youngest son shall he set up the gates 
of it." 

The Battalion left its pleasant bivouac by the 
Nueiameh at 5 o'clock in the afternoon, and waded 
across through its cool waters ; when we had marched 
through the appalling dust of the Valley for some three 
miles, I observed General Hodgson waiting to review 
us on the far side of a steep nullah. I cantered on, and 



We March to the Jordan Valley loi 

took my place beside the General and his A.D.C., 
Captain Buxton. 

I am certain that a review was never held under more 
peculiar circumstances. 

The men marched in column of fours, platoon after 
platoon, down one side of the steep gully and up the 
other, and then past the General, who apparently ex- 
pected to see them marching as steadily as if they had 
been in the Long Valley at Aldershot ; and the strange 
part of it is that they were marching steadily, shoulder 
to shoulder, in spite of the difficult ground which they 
had to negotiate and the enormous load they had to 
carry. They were one mass of dust from head to foot. 
Nothing could be seen of their faces except a pair of 
eyes blinking out of a countenance which looked as if it 
had been dipped in a flour barrel and then streaked with 
lines of soot, for rivulets of black sweat ran in parallel 
lines down their dust-covered faces. 

It was the funniest sight I ever saw in my life, but the 
men were as grave as owls. I could hardly keep my 
face straight when, on the command " eyes left " being 
given, they turned their comical looking faces boldly up 
to the General ! 

I remarked to him that it was a bit of an ordeal to 
review them just after scrambling down and up the steep 
sides of a gully, and he replied, " That is exactly why 
I am here. I want to see how they shape under the 
most difficult possible circumstances, and I must con- 
gratulate you on their soldierly bearing and steadiness." 

The Battalion certainly did itself credit that day, for 
it was no light ordeal to go through, considering the dust 



102 With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign 

and Heat, and the enormous weight that the unfortunate 
men had to carry stowed away on every part of the 
person. 

When we had completed about six miles of the march 
towards our camping place at the Auja, we were met by 
the Brigade Major of the 12th Cavalry Brigade, an 
energetic Staff Officer, who, besides coming himself, 
had thoughtfully provided guides to lead us into the 
Camp in the darkness. It must be remembered that 
we were now within sight and range of the Turkish 
guns, and all large bodies of troops had to move in the 
dark. We were very glad to reach our bivouac on the 
Auja, which is a pleasant, swiftly-flowing streamlet, 
with many cool and shady nooks amid the foliage which 
grows in profusion along its banks. 



CHAPTER XII. 

Our Position in the Mellahah. 

WE were now attached to the 1 2th Cavalry Brigade, 
commanded by Brigadier-General J . T. Wigan, 
and on the i6th, 17th, and i8th August we took over 
D and E sections of the Desert Corps front line, relieving 
the 19th Indian Lancers and the 6th Indian Cavalry 
Regiments. We were unfortunately only a few days 
with the 1 2th Brigade, which was moved to Ludd soon 
after we were posted to it. 

The Jordan Valley, at the place where we were en- 
trenched, is about fifteen miles wide and is over 1,200 
feet below sea level. It is for the most part fairly flat, 
but is intersected here and there by huge ravines, which 
are in places quite narrow, and at others some hundreds 
of yards across, with sheer cliffs some thirty to fifty feet 
high as banks. Looking at the valley from the hills 
that border it, one would never suspect the existence of 
these great rifts. The River Jordan runs in the centre 
of one of these depressions, which in places is 50 to 100 
feet below the ordinary level of the rest of the valley. 

The Wadi MellaEah is another huge cleft or rift, run- 
ning about a mile to the west of, and more or less parallel 
to, the Jordan. It is some 10 miles long, and varies 
from a few score yards to a mile in width. Steep cliffs 

103 



104 With the JudaBans in the Palestine Campaign 

and slopes shut it in on both sides, and make the bed of 
the Mellahah about as hot and stifling a spot as can well 
be imagined, while, to add further abomination to it, 
noxious fumes arose in places from its barren and desolate 
looking sides and bed. A tiny, briny streamlet runs 
its straggling course through it in the dry season, al- 
though in places it spreads out into large reed-covered 
swamps. The water of this rivulet was so salt that a 
single drop was more than one could bear to take on the 
tip of one's tongue. 

We made our headquarters in this gully some three 
miles from where it flows into the Auja, of which it is a 
tributary, and here we fixed up a reed hut as our mess 
house, under the shade of the only tree in this depressing 
spot. Of course we had to keep down in the depths of 
the ravine, otherwise we would be seen and shelled by 
the Turks. 

This Mellahah Wadi had been made in the course of 
ages by the rush of water coming down from the Judaean 
range and from other hills to the north where there is a 
heavy annual rainfall. Here and there in the ravine, 
where it is at its broadest, stand isolated hillocks which 
the water has not worn away, and on these had been con- 
structed some of our more northern redoubts ; they were 
easy to defend and commanded a good view, for their 
tops were on a level with the surface of the surrounding 
valley. 

One of our redoubts was named " Salt," and just to 
the north of it a sparkling spring bubbled out of the side 
of the clifE. It looked so pure and inviting that I took a 
mouthful, and was nearly poisoned for my pains. It 



Our Position in the Mellahah 105 

was the most briny, sulphurous liquid imaginable. There 
is a fortune awaiting the man who exploits its medicinal 
properties 1 

The northern end of the Mellahah was held by the 
Turks, and there it opened out into a huge swamp. Of 
course the mosquitoes bred and thrived in this natural 
reserve, and played havoc, not only with the Turkish 
Army, but with our men too ; when the wind blew from 
the north it carried the little demons amongst us in 
swarms. We had drained the swampy part of the Mel- 
lahah within our own lines at enormous pains, so that 
unless the wind blew from the north, we were fairly free 
of the irritating pests. 

As a matter of fact we used to go out every night half 
a mile or so in front of our wire, deepening and diverting 
the streamlet, in order to dry up the swamp and remove 
the breeding ground of the mosquitoes as far as possible 
from our posts. This was always risky work, for, if 
the Turks had discovered what we were about, they 
would no doubt have made it very lively for us with rifle 
and machine-gun fire. 

From a military point of view our position in the Mel- 
lahah was a hazardous one. 

We were now on the extreme right flank and extreme 
north front of the British Army in Palestine — the post 
of honour and danger in the line, with the Turks prac- 
tically on three sides of us in the salient which we held. 
We had the most exposed piece of front to guard which 
it is possible to conceive, and we were so badly supported 
by guns, etc., that, had the Turks made a determined 
attack in force, we would probably have been annihilated 



io6 With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign 

before succour could reach us. It was altogether an 
extraordinarily risky position in which to place a raw bat- 
talion. The authorities must have had great faith in 
our fighting abilities. 

We were the only troops in the Mellahah, or within 
miles of it, our next nearest neighbours being the West 
Indian Regiment, which had a much better position than 
ours, close under the Judaean hills, with the swift sweet 
waters of the Auja running through their lines. 

The 20th Indian Infantry Brigade held the Jordan 
some three miles to the south of us, and it would have 
been quite feasible for the Turks to have concentrated 
a considerable force and thrust themselves into the gap 
between our lines and theirs, and by so doing we would 
have been completely cut off. 

The Anzac Mounted Division was strung out a long 
way southward, from the Auja to the Dead Sea, and 
some considerable time would have to elapse before these 
doughty warriors could come to our assistance. The 
guns guarding our section of the front were very few — 
about six 13-pounders and a couple of howitzers, the 
latter being rarely brought into action. 

We had in our neighbourhood part of the 4th Turkish 
Army, some 10,000 strong, with over 70 guns, so it can 
be seen how precarious our position was. In our infant 
days some wag had bestowed upon us the unofficial 
motto of " No advance without security," but here we 
did not live up to it, for we were indeed well advanced 
without any security. 

The Turks were in possession of the important Umm 
esh Shert Ford on the Jordan, and held very strong 



Our Position in the Mellahah 107 

positions covering the ford on our side of the river, and 
their entrenched line ran right across our front and 
onward to the Judaean foothills, some ten miles to the 
west of our position. 

To the southward of the Umm esh Shert Ford we had 
an observation post on the cliffs which overlooked the 
Jordan, and on a moonlight night it was an eerie ex- 
perience to stroll across to it and lie on the warm sand, 
listening to the melancholy howling of the jackals and 
hyenas which filled the air with their dismal cries and 
wailings. I often wondered if the thick growth of 
tangled trees and shrubs which spread out over 100 feet 
below me up and down the river banks did not conceal 
many strange wild creatures, still unsuspected in these 
regions ; the place lends itself to the weird in all things, 
but the only uncanny thing I saw there was a reddish 
coloured hare with enormous ears, which, on that 
occasion at all events, got away safely to the shelter of 
the reeds. 

The Turkish outposts at this point were established 
on the opposite bank of the Jordan, but they never 
molested us, or attempted to cross at this point. 

Our sector of some seven miles of front stretched from 
this point in a north-westerly direction, and we held a 
series of redoubts, some on the Jordan bank of the Wadi 
Mellahah, others on hillocks in the ravine, as I have 
already described, and three more on the right bank of 
the Wadi. 

This sector was divided into two. I placed Major 
Ripley in command of the north-western part, while 
Major Neill commanded the south-eastern wing. Each 



io8 With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign 

of these officers had some six redoubts to defend, and 
several of the posts were quite isolated and had to 
depend entirely on themselves in case of attack. 

I recommended that two of these posts should be 
abolished, for they were unsuitable for defence purposes. 
The Corps Commander (General Chauvel), the Divi- 
sional Commander, and all their staffs came out one day 
to see if my suggestion was sound. I remember we all 
stood in a row looking over one of the parapets of the 
useless redoubt in full view of the Turks ; if they had only 
fired a lucky shot from " Jericho Jane " that morning 
they might have made a good bag ! 

All the generals agreed that the two posts were use- 
less, so we dismantled them gladly, for it meant less 
men to find for duty each night — a most important con- 
sideration when one's men are all too few for the work 
in hand. 

This was the last I saw of General Chauvel and 
General Hodgson, for they were soon afterwards 
ordered out of the Valley to prepare for the great con- 
centration which was being secretly carried out on the 
extreme left of the Army near Jaffa. When the 
Australian Division was removed we were attached to 
Major-General Sir Edward Chaytor, who commanded 
the Anzac Mounted Division of immortal fame. This 
was a piece of rare good fortune for us, for we found in 
General Chaytor a man of wide sympathy and under- 
standing, a demon for work and efficiency, but always 
ready to give honour where honour was due — even unto 
Jews. 

Although our position in the Meflahah was such an 



Our Position in the Mellahah 109 

isolated and precarious one, we had no pessimistic fore- 
bodings with regard to our ability to give a good account 
of ourselves if attacked. We felt that " the greater the 
danger, the greater the honour," and it behoved us to be 
all the more vigilant, and up and doing at all times. 

The magnificent way in which the men responded to 
the call of duty in that desolate, nerve-racking region, 
is beyond all praise. All day long the sun beat down 
mercilessly on them, their only shelter being a flimsy 
bit of bivouac canvas, and the nights were stifling. Per- 
spiration streamed from every pore, even when resting. 
Flies and mosquitoes deprived everyone of sleep, for our 
mosquito nets soon became torn and worthless, and could 
not be replaced. 

Just before dark every available man other than those 
required to go on patrols and reconnoitring duty had to 
parade fully equipped and march to his post on the 
redoubts. Here the apparently endless night was spent. 
At dawn the men marched back to their comfortless 
bivouacs to snatch what repose they could before they 
were again called upon to work on strengthening the 
redoubts and deepening the trenches. 

It was in truth an exceedingly strenuous life under 
such terrible climatic conditions. 

Water could only be obtained in very limited quan- 
tities ; every drop had to be carried from the Auja four 
or five miles away. The whole place was constantly 
enveloped in stagnant dust, so it can be imagined with 
what appetite a man could tackle food under such 
appalling conditions, every mouthful of which was 
necessarily full of sand and grit. 



1 10 With the Judseans in the Palestine Campaign 

An Australian summed up life in the Jordan Valley 
very well, when he remarked one sweltering day, " God 
need not have troubled to make Hell when He had the 
Jordan Valley." 

This part of the Jordan Valley is not supposed to be 
habitable during the months of August and September. 
Even the wild Bedouins, who linger in these parts to 
feed their flocks of goats, flee from the accursed place 
in these two dreaded months. 

No British soldier had yet been called upon to endure 
the horrors of the Mellahah even for a week ; neverthe- 
less the Jewish Battalion was kept there for over seven 
weeks at the most deadly period of the year. Looking 
back upon it all I can only say that the Jewish people 
may well be proud of their Battalion for the admirable 
way it " carried on " in this abomination of desolation. 
It was about the hottest, most unhealthy, and most God- 
forsaken place in the universe — in fact some of my men 
assured me that they saw the Devil himself there, horns, 
tail and all ! 

Such was the position allotted to the 38th Battalion to 
defend and hold, and it can be imagined that the change 
from the hill tops of Ephraim to this inferno was 
appalling. 

Knowing that our enemies had already tried to abolish 
the Jewish Battalion, I was strongly reminded of the 
story of Uriah the Hittite ! 

How terribly we suffered owing to our tour of duty in 
this pestilential region will be described in a later 
chapter. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Life in Mellahah. 

ALTHOUGH the climatic change from the cool 
hilltops of Samaria to the inferno of the Jordan 
Valley differed as does Heaven from Hell, still we had 
compensations in the fair, just, and kindly treatment 
meted out to us by General Chaytor and every officer, 
non-commissioned officer, and man of the Anzac 
Mounted Division. 

The battalion stood entirely on its merits, and that it 
found favour in the sight of these famous fighters is the 
proudest feather in its cap. Their minds were as broad 
as the wide spaces from whence they had come, and in 
their strong souls there was no room for petty spite or 
discrimination. If we quitted ourselves like men and 
performed our duties like good soldiers, then it did not 
matter, even if we were Jews. 

The Anzac Mounted Division Headquarters were 
about eight miles from my own, and it frequently fell to 
my lot to ride there through the devouring heat of the 
day for a conference with the General. Never shall I for- 
get the delicious cool draught of shandy that always wel- 
comed me, straight from the ice-box, mixed by the 
cunning hand of Colonel Bruxner, the A. A. and 

III 



112 With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign 

Q.M.G. of the Division. Bruxner would spy me from 
afar off, and, being a man of understanding, had the 
nectar all ready by the time I reached his tent, and oh, 
how good it was ! No place in the world can raise a 
thirst like the Jordan Valley, but it was almost worth 
enduring when it could be quenched by a long draught 
of Bruxner 's elixir. 

The principal objective on our special piece of front 
was the Umm esh Shert Ford over the Jordan. It was 
some two miles to the East of our most northerly posts 
on the Mellahah, and it was well protected by a series 
of trenches, by barbed wire entanglements, and by the 
fortified Jordan cliffs. If we could, by any chance, get 
possession of this crossing, it would mean that the 
Turkish communications would be thrown considerably 
out of gear, and all their local arrangements East and 
West of the Jordan completely upset. 

Furthermore, in the case of an advance on our part, 
by pushing mounted troops across this Ford, the whole 
of the Turkish position, ten miles to the East-South- 
East of us at Nimrin, would be turned, for the road by 
the Umm esh Shert Ford was the short cut to Es Salt 
(the old Ramoth Gilead) and Amman (the ancient Rab- 
bath Ammon, where that splendid Hittite soldier Uriah 
was treacherously sent to his death). 

Our constant endeavour, therefore, in patrol and re- 
connaissance, was to gather all possible information as to 
the ways and means of getting at this spot and making 
it our own. No stone was left unturned and no risk 
avoided which would lead to this important result, and 
in due course we had our reward. 



Life in the Mellahah 113 

In such an isolated position as ours, the only thing to 
be done was to adopt an aggressive attitude towards our 
enemies and so induce them to think that we were a 
great deal stronger than was actually the case. This 
policy succeeded admirably, and we put up such a good 
bluff, and harried the Turks so vigorously, that they 
were in constant dread of attack, and immediately began 
to erect barbed wire fences right along their entire front, 
with every appearance of haste and nervousness. 

Considering the nature and extent of the position 
which we held, we lost very few men in killed, wounded, 
and missing during the seven odd weeks we grilled in the 
Jordan Valley. We were daily and nightly shelled, but 
the Turkish gunners rarely had any luck. On the other 
hand we harassed them continuously, with the result that 
deserters began to come in freely, sometimes singly, and 
often in twos and threes. It is strange, but true, that 
until we came into the valley, prisoners and deserters 
were very scarce. 

On one occasion a prisoner was brought before me 
trembling violently. On asking him what was the 
matter, he replied that he feared his throat was about to 
be cut ! His officer, he said, had told him that we finished 
off all our prisoners in this way. I laughed, and (wish- 
ing to prove him) told him that after he had had some 
food I proposed to send him back to his camp so that 
he might tell all his comrades how well we treated those 
who fell into our hands. On hearing this he cried 
bitterly that he did not want to return to his camp at any 
price, and begged to be kept by the British, a request 
to which I of course readily acceded. 



1 14 With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign 

A Turkish sergeant who was captured one day made 
us all laugh heartily. Before he was marched off to the 
prisoners' compound somebody wanted to take a photo 
of him. The little sergeant (for he was quite diminu- 
tive) preened himself like a peacock, gave a rakish tilt 
to his headgear, a fierce twist to his moustache, and 
struck a dramatic pose before he would allow himself 
to be snapped. He was a regular Turkish Charley 
Chaplin ! 

Most of our prisoners told us quite frankly that they 
were tired of the war, their ill usage, and bad food, and 
were glad to be in our hands, more especially as they 
never got any rest in front of our lines. 

On the 26th August thirteen Turks of the ist Infantry 
Battalion of the 2nd Regiment of the 24th Division sur- 
rendered. These men deserted enhloc while they were 
holding a post which guarded the Hank of their battalion. 
I found out from them that their relief party was due to 
arrive before I could possibly get a half platoon from my 
battalion to occupy the deserted post. If time had 
allowed me to lay a little trap, I should like to have seen 
the faces of the incoming Turks when they found them- 
selves looking down our rifle barrels as they marched 
into their post. They must have been sufficiently 
astonished as it was to find the place empty. 

I watched an exciting little adventure one morning as 
I stood in one of the fire bays of our most advanced 
redoubt, just as dawn was breaking, peering through my 
field glasses to the northward, along the jagged course 
of the Mellahah where it spread out into many channels 
and ravines near the Turkish lines. 



Life in the Mellahah 115 

All at once I spied, some 800 yards off, two Turkish 
officers standing at the foot of a huge sand slope, gazing 
at something away to their left. They looked to me as 
if they had come out to shoot a hare, or perhaps a 
gazelle, as there were some of these pretty creatures in 
the Valley. One of the officers was extremely tall and 
wore a long black cloak. 

Now I knew that I had an officer (Lieutenant Evans) 
and man out scouting in that neighbourhood, and I felt 
rather anxious for their safety if they should, un- 
expectedly, come upon the Turks. I therefore searched 
the vicinity with my glasses, and sure enough, there they 
were walking calmly along on the opposite side of the 
high sand bank under which the Turks were standing. 
Neither party was aware of the presence of the 
other. I felt it was not a time to take any chances, for 
I did not know how many more Turks there might be 
concealed from my view behind the many sand hills 
that were dotted about, so I called up Major Ripley 
and sent him and half-a-dozen men at the double, to 
cause a diversion, and, if possible, to capture the enemy 
officers. 

While giving these directions I kept my glasses on 
my two scouts, hoping that a lucky turn would take them 
out of danger, or expose the enemy to them before they 
themselves were spotted. All at once Lieutenant Evans 
headed up the side of the sand ridge, and I knew then 
that all would be well, for the Turks had their backs to 
him. As soon as he reached the top he cautiously 
peered over, and he must have been astonished to see 
the enemy so near, for he promptly ducked his head out 



1 16 With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign 

of view. He then slid down the slope, took his orderly 
with him, and ran to put himself between the Turks and 
their lines, hoping, I suppose, to ambush them as they 
returned. The latter, all unconscious of what was going 
on, were taking things very casually, and instead of 
going back to camp, they came on a little way in the 
direction of our lines. This upset Evans' calculations, 
so he and his man began to stalk the Turks, and just 
as he was about to open fire on them they discovered 
him, and then both sides loosed off their rifles and a 
regular duel began. 

Meanwhile Major Ripley and his men had climbed 
half-way up the side of the ravine, and they in turn 
began to blaze away at the Turks, who were now 
thoroughly scared. They took to flight, and in the 
many twists, turns and channels thereabouts managed 
to get safely away to their own lines. 

Evans and his scout got back to ours, none the worse 
for their adventure. 

I had a narrow shave myself in this same post a couple 
of days later. It was my custom to scan the enemy's 
lines soon after daybreak every morning from this com- 
manding position in order to see if any changes had taken 
place in the night. A Turkish sniper must have seen 
me and marked me for his own. At all events I had 
just finished my survey, and stepped down from my 
perch, when a bullet buried itself with a thud in the bank 
just where my head had been ! 

A couple of days later Lieutenant Mendes and 
Sergeant Levy were out scouting along the intricate 
course of the Mellahah, to the north of our lines, when 



Life in the Mellahah 117 

they walked into an ambuscade ; the Sergeant fell at the 
first volley, but luckily Mendes was not hit. He refused 
to surrender, and, in spite of some fleet-footed Turks 
making the pace very hot for him, he eluded the lot and 
got back to our lines safely, but thoroughly exhausted. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

We Win Our First Honours. 

ON the 28th August a patrol of six privates, under 
the command of a sergeant, crept up to the 
Turkish trenches near the Umm esh Shert Ford. It 
was a dark and windy night, so they got quite close to 
the enemy without being seen. When about thirty yards 
short of the Turks they lay down and then observed a 
sentry standing a little way off. One of the patrol, 
Private Sapieshvili, a Jew from the Caucasus, began to 
crawl forward and cautiously stalk the unwary sentinel. 
When eventually he succeeded in getting behind him, 
he stood up and advanced boldly, pretending to be a 
Turk, for he was able to speak a few words of Turkish. 
All at once he pounced on the sentry, seized him by the 
throat and bore him to the ground. 

The enemy in the trenches heard the scuffle and 
opened fire and one man of our patrol was badly hit. 
Sapieshvili, however, stuck to his prisoner, disarmed 
him and took him triumphantly off to our camp. The 
Turks in the trenches numbered about a score, and kep' 
up a heavy fire, so the rest of the patrol withdrew. Be 

fore doing so. Private Gordon lifted his wounded com 

118 



We Win Our First Honours 119 

rade (Private Marks) and carried him back to our lines 
under a rain of bullets from the Turks. 

I recommended these men to General Chaytor for 
their gallantry and coolness under fire. 

It was unfortunate that Private Marks* wound proved 
to be a mortal one. He had only joined the battalion 
some three days previously, and this was his first en- 
counter with the Turks. He had served in France and 
other war centres, and had passed through many a fierce 
fight scathless. 

We gave him a very impressive burial the following 
morning, under the lea of a little hillock, with his face 
turned towards Jerusalem ; the spires of the buildings on 
the Mount of Olives could actually be seen from the spot 
where we were standing around his grave. 

One of the ten men who, at Helmieh, had wished to 
join a Labour battalion, but who, on reconsideration, 
had seen that it was his duty to remain as a fighting 
soldier, was Private Greyman. He was a man who 
disapproved of all forms of violence. He hated war 
and all the brutalities pertaining thereto, yet he carried 
out his military duties most conscientiously. He 
happened to be one of a party on duty in the forward 
trenches on the Day of Atonement, and while repelling 
some snipers who were attempting to make it un- 
pleasant for us in our camp, poor Greyman met with an 
instantaneous death, an enemy bullet passing through 
his head. I heard afterwards that when his widow 
received the usual War Office notification that Ee was 
killed in action, she refused to believe it, for she saw that 
the date given was the Day of Atonement, a day on 



120 With the Judseans in the Palestine Campaign 

which she said no Jew could possibly be fighting ; but 
alas, we had to man the trenches continuously, no matter 
how sacred or in what reverence any particular day was 
held by Jew or Gentile. 

We were sometimes attached to the ist and some- 
times to the 2nd Australian Light Horse Brigades under 
Generals Cox and Ryrie ; when they moved we were 
placed under General Meldrum, the Commander of the 
New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade. All were keen 
soldiers and good and gallant comrades. 

While we were under General Ryrie I remember he 
said to me one day that he would like to come out and 
inspect my posts. 

" Very good, General," I said. " Come out with me 
any morning you wish." 

" When do you start? " he asked. 

" Generally at 3 a.m.," I replied. 

"That's a d — d good time to sleep," said the 
General. 

Another night some of our patrols scared the Turks 
badly, and they started a tremendous fusillade with every 
rifle and gun that could be brought into action. The 
noise of the battle reverberated down the Mellahah and 
reached the Auja, where General Ryrie was encamped. 
Thinking that a serious attack had begun, the General 
sprang hastily out of bed and planted his naked 
foot right on to the tail of a huge black scorpion. For 
a full half-hour afterwards Australia was heard at her 
best. 

When I saw him a couple of days later he philoso- 
phically remarked that there was virtue even in a scor- 



We Win Our First Honours 121 

pion sting, for it had completely cured him of ever 
attempting to get out of bed again in the dark, even if 
all the Turks in the Ottoman Empire were at his door. 

General Ryrie, afterwards promoted to Major- 
General, was appointed to the command of the Aus- 
tralian Mounted Division, and had the K.C.M.G. 
conferred on him. 

Towards the end of August General Allenby reviewed 
the Anzacs at their Headquarters, some four miles to 
the north of Jericho. The Mounted Division was 
formed into three sides of a square, and into this General 
Allenby galloped, followed by his Staff. It was well for 
the Commander-in-Chief that he was a good horseman, 
for the spirited animal which he rode gave one or two 
very hearty bucks, quite enough to have unseated the 
majority of our Generals. 

Later, the Chief decorated a number of the officers 
and men who had gallantly won distinctions, and at the 
end of the ceremony made a good soldierly speech to the 
Division. 

I was invited to be present at the review, and on being 
presented by General Chaytor to the Commander-in- 
Chief the latter remarked, " Oh, by the way, Patterson, 
I fear I cannot form your Jewish Brigade, for I have 
been notified by the War Office that there are no more 
Jewish troops coming out." I replied that I thought 
this information must be inaccurate, for I had just had 
a letter from the officer commanding the 40th Battalion at 
Plymouth, informing me that he was about to embark 
with his battalion for service in Palestine. The Com- 
mander-in-Chief seemed somewhat surprised on hearing 



122 With the Judseans in the Palestine Campaign 

this, but remarked that he considered his information 
later and better than mine, so of course there was nothing 
more to be said. 

A few days afterwards, on 30th August, Genera\ 
Chaytor had a conference with all his Brigade and In- 
fantry Commanders, and as he had heard General 
AUenby saying to me that he considered his information 
with regard to Jewish reinforcements better than mine, 
he remarked: "Well, Patterson, your information 
about the coming of the other Jewish Battalions 
was better than the Chief's after all, for one of 
my officers has just come from Engalnd, and he tells 
me that a strong Jewish Battalion came out with him 
in the same ship and landed in Egypt a couple of days 
ago. 

As I considered it only right to let the Commander-in- 
Chief know that the information he had received was not 
accurate, I wrote and told him that I understood that 
another Jewish Battalion, some 1,400 strong, had 
already arrived in Egypt. 

In reply to this I got a memorandum from the Chief 
of Staff, Major-General Louis Jean Bols, intimating that 
in future I was only to address the Commander-in-Chief 
through the ordinary channels of communication. 

It was evident from this that the Chief of Staff was 
not pleased that the Commander-in-Chief should have 
any sidelight from me on Jewish affairs. Of course 
this had long been apparent, for anything I had pre- 
viously written through the ordinary channels — no 
matter how important to the welfare of the battalion — 
had invariably been returned to me with the remark 



We Win Our First Honours 123 

that it was not considered necessary to refer the matter 
further. 

Some months after my interview with the Com- 
mander-in-Chief yet another thousand men arrived from 
England, and altogether there were over five thousand 
Jewish soldiers serving in the Jewish units in Palestine. 
The formation of a J ewish Brigade had been the definite 
policy of the War Office, and an intimation to this effect 
had been sent to General Allenby. The Commander- 
in-Chief of the E.E.F. had himself written to me to 
say that a Jewish Brigade would be formed, yet this 
promise, which meant so much to the comfort and 
efficiency of the men and to the prestige of Jews the 
world over, was never fulfilled ; instead, we were pushed 
about from Brigade to Brigade and from Division to 
Division in the most heart-breaking manner, with the 
result that we got all the kicks and none of the traditional 
halfpence ! 

In the space of three months we were shunted about 
like so many cattle trucks and found ourselves, in that 
brief period, attached to no less than twelve different 
formations of the British Army 1 

General Chaytor gave a great lift to the spirit of the 
battalion when he conferred the M ilitary M edal on Privates 
Sapieshvili and Gordon for their gallant conduct on the 
night patrol already mentioned. We had a special 
parade in " Salt " post redoubt, after Divine Service on 
the first day of the Jewish New Year (7th September, 
1 9 1 8) . Before all their comrades the General recounted 
their gallant deeds, pinned the coveted ribbons on their 
breasts, and then ordered the battalion to march past and 



124 With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign 

salute — not himself, but the two men whom he had just 
decorated. From this moment General Chaytor had 
with him the heartfelt devotion of every man in the unit. 
A small thing can win the respect, goodwill, and devo- 
tion of a Regiment, but it is not every General who has 
the knack of gaining it. 



CHAPTER XV. 

Capture of the Umm esh Shert Ford. 

AS the date fixed for the great advance of the Army 
in Palestine drew near, certain parts of the 
Jordan Valley began to look very comical. Here and 
there would be seen a battery of artillery parked, or a 
cavalry regiment, with its horses tethered in neat and 
orderly array, in the most approved army style, but on 
closer inspection both horses and guns were found to be 
merely dummies ! Great camps were pitched, but there 
was not a soldier in them ; fires were lighted all over the 
place at dusk, as if a mighty army were bivouacked round 
about, and every conceivable kind of bluff was put up in 
order to deceive the Turks and make them think that 
the long expected attack was to be made through 
Gilead, to effect a junction with the Arab Army of the 
Hedjaz. The Jewish Battalion was even ordered to 
march and counter march from Jericho to the Dead Sea 
by some wight at G.H.Q. who still remembered us, but 
General Chaytor scotched this stunt, for of course he 
knew it was quite impossible for us to guard our front 
throughout the night and march some forty miles by 
day as well in that terrific heat. 

There were really very few troops in the Valley, if 
one considers the enemy force that could have been con- 



126 With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign 

centrated against us. According to General AUenby's 
despatch, there were some 6,000 rifles, 2,000 sabres, 
and 74 guns facing us in the Jordan Valley. 

General Allenby in his despatch of the 31st October, 
191 8, writes : — 

' ' By reducing the strength of the troops in the Jordan 
Valley to a minimum," etc., and " To prevent the de- 
crease in strength in the Jordan Valley being discovered 
by the enemy I ordered Major General Sir Edward 
Chaytor, K.C.M.G., C.B., A.D.C., to carry out with 
the Australian and New Zealand Mounted Division, the 
20th Indian (Imperial Service) Infantry Brigade, the 
38th and 39th Battalions of the Royal Fusiliers, and 
the ist and 2nd Battalions British West Indies Regi- 
ment a series of demonstrations with the object of 
inducing the enemy to believe that an attack East of 
the Jordan was intended, either in the direction of 
Madeba or Amman. 

The enemy was thought to be anticipating an attack 
in these directions and every possible step was taken to 
strengthen his suspicions." 

On the 15th September the 39th Battalion Royal 
Fusiliers, under the command of Colonel Margolin, 
D.S.O., arrived in the Jordan Valley, and took up its 
position on the Auja in support of the 38th Battalion in 
the line. 

A couple of days before the big offensive which began 
on the 1 8th September, General Allenby visited my 
Headquarters, where I presented to him all the officers 
not on duty. He took me a little apart and asked me if I 
was sure I could trust the men to fight, and I assured 



Capture of the Umm esh Shert Ford 127 

him that he need have no anxiety on that score, for the 
men were all right and would respond to any call when 
it was made. 

He then asked me if there was any other point I 
should like to bring to his notice : I told him that malaria 
was daily becoming more prevalent and I was losing 
200 men a week from this cause alone : I also pointed 
out that I did not think that the medical arrangements 
for the evacuation and care of the men were all that they 
should be. (The General made a note of this in his 
book. 

The only result was that I got an irate letter from the 
Deputy Adjutant-General asking me for a full report as 
to why I had misinformed the Commander-in-Chief 
about my sick, and about medical matters generally, so 
that on the morning of the 23rd September, the day we 
were ordered to pursue the enemy, when I should have 
been solely devoted to the leading of my men and all the 
problems pertaining thereto, I had to sit down and 
smooth the ruffled feathers of the Deputy Adjutant- 
General. 

I not only proved my case to the hilt, but emphasized 
it by giving further evidence which I had not troubled 
the Commander-in-Chief by recounting. 

General Chaytor specially warned us that, during the 
offensive on our left, we were to increase our patrols and 
harry the enemy as much as possible, to keep him in his 
lines and to prevent, if possible, any large force of 
Turks crossing from the East of the Jordan to reinforce 
their armies holding the line from the Jordan to the sea. 

This is how the official report runs : — " Chaytor 's 



128 With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign 

force in the Jordan Valley had so far confined itself to 
vigorous patrolling to insure that the enemy could make 
no move without their knowledge. The role of this 
composite force was to secure the right flank of the army 
and the Jordan crossings, to keep in close touch with 
the enemy and take advantage of any withdrawal on 
their part, but to run no risk of being involved with a 
more powerful foe too early in the battle. This difficult 
task was admirably carried out." 

During the nights of the i8th, 19th, 20th and 21st 
September we made demonstrations against the 
Turkish positions along our front. Parties would crawl 
out into favourable positions, such as a fold in the 
ground, and open fire all down the line. This always 
made the Turks nervy, and their trenches would be 
manned and every individual would blaze away for all 
he was worth. 

On the 19th and 20th they got so " windy " that they 
called on their artillery to put down a barrage to prevent 
us from making an assault. Each time the barrage was 
put down our men were well clear, and lay snug and 
safe until the enemy had uselessly expended hundreds 
of rounds, when they quietly returned to camp, not a whit 
the worse for all the cannonading. There was very 
little sleep on these nights for anyone, and the Jewish 
Battalion certainly did all that in it lay to further the in- 
tentions of the Commander-in-Chief by holding every 
Turk in the neighbourhood of the Jordan closely to his 
lines. 

On the 20th we pushed well up against the Turkish 
trenches, found them all manned, and again drew heavy 



Capture of the Umm esh Shert Ford 129 

rifle, machine-gun and artillery fire. We had a few 
men wounded in this affair. (Why we had not a heavy 
casualty list on these occasions is a mystery to me, for 
the men had to advance in the open over a stretch of 
ground as level as a billiard table. 

Number 6 Trench Mortar Battery R.A. was under 
my command in the Mellahah, and I ordered this battery 
to open fire on the Turkish position round Umm esh 
Shert, if we should find difficulty in ousting the enemy 
from this important place. 

I had arranged to attack this position on the 22nd 
September, but at midnight on the 21st my Intelligence 
Officer sent me news that the enemy's resistance in the 
trenches opposite Umm esh Shert Ford was weakening. 

I immediately ordered out my reserve, and sent them 
under Lieutenant Cross to reinforce Major Neill, whose 
duty it was to push in the Turks and take the Ford at 
the earliest possible moment. I got favourable news 
by telephone of the steady advance of the men ; trench 
after trench was occupied, and when I left my Head- 
quarters at 4 a.m. for the scene of the fight, I was able 
to report to General Chaytor's Stafi Officer that we were 
almost in possession of the crossing. 

I galloped off as dawn was breaking, scrambled up the 
cliffs and across the ground from which the Turks had 
fled, and arrived in time to go down with Major Neill, 
Captain Julian, and Lieutenants Jabotinsky and Cross, 
to take possession of this coveted passage over the 
Jordan. I may mention here that Jabotinsky had been 
attached to G.H.Q. for special work, but, as soon as the 
battalion went into the line, he requested to be returned 



130 With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign 

to duty in order to share in all our dangers and 
hardships. 

The moment we had secured the Umm esh Shert 
Ford I signalled the news to General Chaytor, who im- 
mediately took advantage of our capture by pushing 
mounted troops across the Jordan, thus outflanking the 
Turks who held the foothills of Shunat Nimrin, which 
barred the way to Es Salt. 

The 1st Australian Light Horse Brigade crossed 
while we covered the Ford w^th our rifles and machine- 
guns, and they never drew rein until Es Salt was reached 
that evening, where a large force of the enemy with 
guns, etc., was captured by Fhe Anzac Mounted 
Division. 

That same afternoon, two companies of the 39th Bat- 
talion Royal Fusiliers moved up to our support and took 
up position in the posts which we had vacated in the 
Mellahah. 

It is a curious fact that the whole movement of the 
British Army in Palestine, which swept the Turks out 
of the country, was actually pivoted on the sons of 
Israel, who were once again fighting the enemy, not far 
from the spot where their forefathers had crossed the 
Jordan under Joshua. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

The Lost Transport Wagons. 

MEANWHILE I was ordered to clear away the 
enemy believed to be still holding the ground 
to the north of our trenches round Red Hill. I detailed 
Captain H. H. Harris and his Company for this duty, 
the remainder of the battalion taking up position in the 
vacated Turkish trenches overlooking the Jordan. 
Lieutenant Jabotinsky, with his platoon, took possession 
of Umm esh Shert and put the captured ford in a state 
of defence, making machine-gun emplacements, etc., to 
cover the crossing. 

I myself with Captain Julian, Lieutenant Cross, and 
a platoon reconnoitred up the river, for I had heard that 
there was a bridge in existence, which had been thrown 
across by the Turks in the neighbourhood of the ford, 
and I was anxious to find it if possible. After going 
some little way I found it was nearly 8 o'clock a.m., and 
time to be getting back to my Battalion Headquarters, 
so I left Julian, Cross, and the patrol to push on and 
make what discoveries they could along the river. When 
I got back to my tent I found a telegram awaiting me 
from General Chaytor which informed me that I had 
been given command of a body of troops to be known 
officially as " Patterson's Column." It was composed 
of the 38th and 39th Battalions Royal Fusiliers, and was 
ordered to concentrate on the Auja bridgehead. 

131] 12 



132 With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign 

I handed over command of the 38th to Major Ripley, 
who was the next Senior Officer, and issued the neces- 
sary concentration orders. 

Later on I rode out to view the position which we had 
wrested from the Turks on the Jordan and, on the way, 
I was surprised to meet Captain Julian being brought 
in wounded on a camel. He was in considerable pain, 
but quite cheery and able to give me a full account of 
what had happened. It seems that soon after I had 
left them the party was ambushed by the Turks, who 
caught them, in the neighbourhood of Red Hill, with 
machine-gun and rifle fire. Julian, Cross, and Private 
Mildemer fell ; the remainder of the patrol melted into 
a fold of the ground and made their escape. Julian, 
although severely wounded in the foot, also managed to 
get away, aided by Corporal Elfman, who gallantly 
helped him to safety, although under heavy fire from 
the enemy. 

Reinforcements had been sent out as quickly as pos- 
sible to the scene of the fight by the nearest Company, 
but by the time they arrived the Turks had gone. No 
trace could be found of Lieutenant Cross's body, but 
Private Mildemer was found lying dead where he fell. 

On receipt of this news I sent another party under 
Lieutenant Bullock to give burial according to Jewish 
rites to the gallant man who had fallen, and to make a 
thorough search of the locality for Lieutenant Cross's 
body, but no trace of the missing officer could be found. 
Telegrams were dispatched to the hospitals at Amman, 
Deraa, and to Damascus after we had captured that city, 
but nothing was known of him at any of these places, 



The Lost Transport Wagons 133 

and in the end we all came to the sad conclusion that we 
had seen the last of poor Cross and that the Turks must 
have thrown his body into the Jordan after he had died 
from his wounds. His loss cast a gloom over the 
battalion. 

I was also exceedingly sorry to be deprived of Captain 
Julian's services with the transport, just at the moment 
when we were ordered to start off in pursuit of the enemy, 
for he was an ideal Transport Officer, and never once let 
the battalion down while he served in that capacity, and 
he had held this important position from the day he 
joined us. 

It was not long until we had a sharp reminder of his 
loss, for that same evening our transport trekked off and 
could not be found anywhere. Someone (I never could 
discover who) gave the Transport Sergeant orders to 
leave his lines on the Auja and report, with all wagons, 
etc., to Major Ripley in the Mellahah. In the darkness 
he failed to find the Major, and on the morning of the 
23rd not a single soul in the battalion knew anything 
about where the Transport had gone, or how it could 
be found. They had completely vanished from the ken 
of everybody, taking with them our food, forage, cook- 
ing pots, and spare ammunition. The new Transport 
Officer, Captain Cunningham, who had been detailed to 
take Captain Julian's place, was unable to find any trace 
of them when he went to take over charge. They had 
mysteriously disappeared fr9m their bivouac and gone 
off into the blue. 

This was a very disturbing factor in the situation, for 
we had orders to start off in pursuit of the enemy at 



134 With the Judseans in the Palestine Campaign 

2 o'clock a.m. next morning. Cunningham, Quarter- 
master Smythe, and all available men who could be 
pressed into the service, were sent in every direction to 
run the Transport to earth. 

Eventually Smythe came back to say that he had 
been tracking wagon wheels for at least five miles, but 
they could not be ours, for the tracks led steadily in a 
northerly direction towards the Turkish lines. 

After duly strafing Major Ripley for having, thus 
early in his command, lost his transport, I set off in 
quest of the rovers. 

Luckily my charger Betty was in splendid condition, 
and I certainly put her on her mettle that morning. I 
took up the trail that Smythe had abandoned, followed 
it for seven or eight miles at a steady canter, and then 
lost all trace on hard ground. I had to cast round in a 
big circle before I found it once more, then I went on 
again for another three or four miles when I met some 
Australians. On asking them if they had seen a column 
of wagons going northward they said, " No, we have 
been along here for a couple of miles, but we have seen 
nothing." 

This was very disheartening news, and I almost felt 
inclined to give up the quest in this direction and turn 
back ; but having come so far, I made up my mind to go 
on, even to the Turkish lines themselves, before I gave 
up the hunt. 

I was then about eight miles short of the Turkish 
position, or what had been the Turkish position at the 
foot of the hills towards which the tracks still led. 

When I had covered another few miles, to my inex- 



The Lost Transport Wagons 135 

pressible relief, I at last caught sight of the Transport, 
steadily pursuing its way northward ! 

I made Betty put on an extra spurt and soon caught 
them up. It is lucky that there was no grass about, or 
the prairie itself would have caught fire when I at last 
overtook the Transport Sergeant. The language 
addressed to the jackdaw by the Cardinal Lord Arch- 
bishop of Rheims was angel talk compared to mine. 

When I ordered him sharply to get back at once to 
where he came from, he was so confused that he 
promptly turned his horse round and began to ride off 
towards camp — leaving his baggage wagons still calmly 
proceeding in the opposite direction. 

I called the dazed sergeant back and told him very 
forcibly to halt the column and take the wagons back as 
quickly as possible to his original camp. I was never 
able to get any satisfactory information from the ser- 
geant (who by the way was a (Welshman and a 
Christian) as to what induced him to trek off into the 
unknown in such a mad fashion. I can only imagine 
that the devil, who lives in the Jordan Valley, had im- 
personated Major Ripley and had ordered the sergeant 
to push for all he was worth for the Turkish lines, leav- 
ing us without food, water, cooking pots, or ammuni- 
tion — in fact leaving us " beggars by the wayside." 

My chase of the transport wasted some precious 
hours, but I was back in camp soon after 10 a.m., where 
I found the battalion full of bustle and activity, preparing 
for concentration on the Auja bridgehead. 

On my return to Headquarters I found that Major 
Ripley was ill and only fit for hospital. He had had a 



136 With the Judseans in the Palestine Campaign 

most nerve-shattering time while commanding his sec- 
tion ; for his posts were very much exposed and there 
was always the dread and anxiety of an attack in over- 
whelming numbers. Sleep rarely comes to soothe a 
man's nerves in such trying circumstances, especially in 
the awful heat we endured in the Mellahah ; in fact, 
Major Ripley's features had wasted away so much owing 
to the worry and anxiety of all he had undergone that he 
reminded me of nothing so much as one of the mummified 
birds I had once seen in a cave of Upper Egypt. I 
never saw Major Ripley again in the battalion, but I am 
glad to say he made an excellent recovery, and was 
eventually given a good staff job in Alexandria. 

I gave the command of the battalion to Major Neill, 
and from that moment I had no further anxieties, out- 
side my own province, with which to contend. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

We Go up to Ramoth Gilead. 

WHEN I took command of the Column I chose 
Captain Douglas Leadley as my Staff Officer, 
and a better man it would be almost impossible to find. 
I never knew Leadley to forget anything, and it was a 
great relief to feel that when once I had given him any 
instructions, I need have no further anxiety about them, 
for he was absolutely reliable and competent in every 
way. 

(When Leadley came to me. Major Neill selected Cap- 
tain T. B. Brown to replace him as Adjutant of the 38th 
Battalion, and an excellent staff officer he made, as far as 
I could judge. 

The concentration on the Auja bridgehead proceeded 
as rapidly as possible, for the Column had to move soon 
after midnight. 

I found that the 38th Battalion could not possibly con- 
centrate in time, for Captain H. H. Harris's Company 
was many miles to the north, where it had been sent in 
pursuit of the enemy. I therefore ordered Major Neill 
to follow me as quickly as possible to Shunat Nimrin, a 
position on the Moab foothills, some ten miles to the 
eastward of the Auja. 

137 



138 With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign 

At 2 a.m. on the 24th, Column Headquarters and the 
39th Battalion crossed the Jordan at the Auja bridge- 
head, scrambled up the steep Jordan cliffs, and marched 
on towards Nimrin. 

General Chaytor had meanwhile ordered an advance 
upon Es Salt (the ancient Ramoth Gilead) and Amman, 
with his whole force, which consisted of the Anzac 
Mounted Division (less one squadron), a field battery, 
a heavy battery, two mountain batteries, Patterson's 
Column, the 20th Indian Infantry Brigade, and the ist 
and 2nd Battalions British West Indies Regiment. 

The mounted troops pushed forward rapidly, and soon 
out-distanced the infantry and guns. The Anzacs were 
such gluttons for battle that they broke down every 
resistance and completely destroyed and broke 
up the enemy before the Infantry could come into 
action. 

The 20th Indian Infantry and the guns followed the 
horsemen, for, from their position on the Jericho-Es 
Salt road, they were much better situated to take the lead 
than any other dismounted troops. 

My Column struck the advancing troops at Nimrin. 
where I was just in time to see General Chaytor fly past 
in a motor car. The General always believed in being 
well to the front when there was a fight on, and has 
been known on more than one occasion to be mixed up 
in the fray itself. 

My orders were to form the rearguard to Chaytor 's 
Force, and all day long the main Column wound its 
way slowly past Nimrin until 3 o'clock in the afternoon 
of the 24th. I then gave the order for the 39th to 



We Go up to Ramoth Gilead 139 

advance, and left orders for the 38th, on arrival at 
Nimrin, to follow on to Es Salt. 

It was interesting to observe the strong positions from 
which we had driven the Turks, and to see overturned 
cannon, limbers, wagons, ammunition carts strewing the 
road ; "Jericho Jane," an enormous gun that used to 
fire into Jericho, the Divisional Headquarters, and 
generally rake us all round, was lying ignominiously on 
her back in a ditch ; dead bodies of men, horses, and 
draught bullocks made the world unpleasant in their 
vicinity ; Bedouins flocked around like locusts, looting 
machine guns, rifles, ammunition and stores of all kinds 
which had been abandoned by the Turks in their hasty 
flight. The Arabs in these parts had the time of their 
lives, for loot is to them as honey to the bee. 

General Chaytor had left word at Nimrin that he 
wished to see me, so I was anxious to get on to Es Salt 
as quickly as possible, where I hoped to find him. I 
therefore gave all necessary instructions to Colonel 
Margolin, and, leaving Captain Leadley with him in case 
anything unforeseen should crop up, and he should 
require the assistance of my Staff Officer, I rode 
on as fast as possible to Es Salt, taking my groom 
with me. 

After great difficulty and much squeezing we forced 
our way through the miles and miles of wagons, baggage, 
guns, etc., which were slowly and painfully crawling up 
the steep mountain side towards Es Salt. I arrived 
there at about 9 p.m., but failed to find the General, 
who had already pushed further ahead. I was hos- 
pitably entertained by the Indian Infantry Brigade, and 



140 With the Judseans in the Palestine Campaign 

afterwards turned aside, and, tethering my horse, lay 
down a little way off the road, with my saddle for my 
pillow, glad to have a blanket to wrap round me on these 
heights, which felt decidedly chilly after the suffocating 
heat of the Mellahah. I woke up in the middle of the 
night just in time to recover Betty, who had broken 
loose and was straying off towards a forage cart. 
Having tied her up, I settled down again and slept until 
dawn. I wondered during the night how it was that my 
bed was so warm, and as soon as daylight came I dis- 
covered the reason — I had been sleeping on a bed of dry 
stable litter ! 

After an early cup of tea with the Indians, I pushed 
on through Es Salt to General Chaytor's Headquarters, 
which were just beyond. Here I found that the General 
had gone on to direct the operations which were then 
in progress round Amman. Major Anderson of his Staff 
provided me with an excellent breakfast, and soon after- 
wards we were joined by my friend, Colonel Bruxner, 
who had had a strenuous night marshalling the guns 
and transport on their toilsome journey up from the 
Valley. 

I received telegraphic instruction from General 
Chaytor to make Es Salt my Headquarters and put it 
into a state of all-round defence. 

I put up my " bivvy " a little way out of the town, 
under an enormous fig tree then laden with delicious 
fruit, close to the Nimrin, which flowed swiftly by, 
almost at the edge of our bivouac. 

Colonel Margolin and the 39th took over Es Salt and 
at once occupied the commanding hills round about, 




THE AUJA 
A pleasant, swiftly^flowing streamlet ' 

{See page 102) 




£S SALT 
(The ancient Ramoth Giiead) 



We Go up to Ramoth Gilead 141 

where he was soon entrenched and ready to give the 
enemy a very warm reception in case of attack. 

The Turks had left a number of sick and wounded 
soldiers at this place in a dreadful state. Captain 
Redcliffe Salaman took these poor wretches in hand and 
soon brought about a wonderful improvement in their 
condition. The town itself was in a state of indescribable 
filth, and had it not been for the unceasing efforts of 
Captain Salaman and the Sanitary Department which 
he organised, an outbreak of typhoid or other dreadful 
disease must have ensued. No praise is too high for 
the work which Salaman did during the period he was 
in Medical charge at Es Salt. 

Soon after we had established ourselves here I found 
that the Bedouins were looting the abandoned Turkish 
munitions, stores, etc., right and left ; as they were our 
allies, I did not want to interfere without orders, so I 
reported the matter to General Chaytor. 

The General promptly wired me to stop all looting 
by these marauders — a proceeding which annoyed them 
intensely. I had to send out strong parties from the 
39th Battalion to patrol that part of the country towards 
Amman, and the whole of the road from Es Salt back 
to Nimrin had, in addition, to be watched and guarded. 
The 39th patrolled the country from Es Salt as far as 
the El Howeij Bridge, some six miles south of Es Salt, 
while the 38th took up guard duty from this point to 
Nimrin. This was rather hard luck on the 38th, for 
they had almost reached Es Salt when the order to 
counter-march came. They had to turn and go back 
all that long weary way, practically without rest or food. 



142 With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign 

It was a march and counter-march that would have 
reflected credit on the best marching Regiment in the 
British Army, and no better testimonial could be given 
than that of Lieut. Cameron, a regular Highlander of 
the old school, who freely admitted that this was the very 
worst he had ever experienced in all his eighteen years of 
soldiering. 

Cameron won the Military Cross, and also a bar 
thereto, while serving with the 38th Battalion. 

Major Neill afterwards told me that he received the 
greatest assistance in getting the men along on this trying 
march from Captain H . H . Harris, who had the arduous 
task of shepherding the weary ones along with the rear- 
guard. 

No doubt it was one of these laggards who, some 
weeks afterwards, wrote me a letter full of reproaches, 
which made me laugh heartily, and helped to brighten 
the gloomy days through which I was then passing. I 
give an extract from a very lengthy episode : — 

' ' You kept us in torture for six and a half weeks 
at Nablus. Then we left Nablus and thought 
after this torture you will send us for a rest, but no, 
you make us march to the Jordan in full marching 
order. You also gave us a bomb each man to 
put in our pocket so as to lighten the burden of the 
transport. You had consideration for horses, but 
not for humans. We travelled like pedlars to the 
Jordan, living on fresh air. When we reached the 
Jordan, it was a grand place, was it not? It sur- 
prises me you could not pick out a worse place to 



We Go up to Ramoth Gilead 143 

send us. Is there any worse place than the 
Mellalah in this God-forsaken country ? (Evidently 
a non-Zionist, this fellow !) You kept us in this 
hot hole for another six-and-a-half weeks, no other 
troops ever being known to stay there for more than 
two or three weeks — but of course anywhere was 
good enough for the Jews." 

From the above it will be seen that at least some of the 
men were of the opinion that I was responsible for their 
troubles, while all the time I was getting into the bad 
books of authority in my endeavours to get them better 
treatment. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

The Crown of Victory. 

THE moment things were satisfactorily settled in the 
neighbourhood of Es Salt I hurried on to 
Amman. Jumping into a passing motor, I discovered 
that the name of the officer in the car was Lowe, and on 
asking him whether he was, by chance, any relation of 
a man I knew named Harry Lowe, he replied, " I am 
his brother." 

On our arrival at Amman I found that General 
Chaytor's camp was some distance beyond the town and 
close to the Hedjaz Railway Station. Seeing the divi- 
sional flag flying over his tent, I made for it, and was 
delighted at last to run him to earth. 

I heartily congratulated him on the great victory he 
had won in such record time. In four days his troops 
had covered over 60 miles ; he had forced his way 
through the hills and mountains of Moab, a most difficult 
country, in the face of a superior force ; he had cap- 
tured the two ancient cities of Es Salt and Amman, got 
astride of the Hedjaz Railway, and had completely routed 
the 4th Turkish Army. He had captured altogether 
some 11,000 prisoners, some 60 guns, about 150 
machine-ooins, hundreds of tons of ammunition of all 

144 



The Crown of Victory 145 

kinds, millions of rounds of small arms ammunition, large 
quantities of railway rolling-stock, and all kinds of other 
material, foodstuffs, horses, mules, transport wagons, 
motor lorries, etc. — altogether as brilliant a piece of work 
as was done in this or any other theatre of the Great 
War. 

I would have those who pin their faith to the sword 
make a special note of the fact that not a single sabre or 
lance was carried by the mounted men. The hefty 
Anzac was able to do all that was wanted by the com- 
bination of man, horse, and rifle. 

Of course Chaytor's Force lacked one great weapon, 
and that was a war correspondent to write up its deeds ! 

While I was in General Chaytor's camp a sad accident 
happened. A Signalling Sergeant quite close to us 
was examining a ' ' dud ' ' aerial bomb when it exploded 
in his hands, killing him and wounding several others. 

I found Amman (the Philadelphia of the Romans) rich 
in old Graeco- Roman architectural remains. A mighty 
amphitheatre, still in a fairly good state of preservation, 
stands out boldly amidst the ruins. Judging by the 
number of shattered columns and broken arches strewn 
about over a wide area, it must have been a very impor- 
tant city in the days when Rome was mistress of the 
world. Little or nothing of the old Rabbah Ammon is 
left. The walls of a very ancient citadel still crown a 
hill -top close by the Roman city, but whether it is the 
citadel which so long resisted Joab, or a later structure, 
I cannot say. 

I remained at Amman all night, in the shadow of the 
great ruined amphitheatre. Once it must have rocked 

K 



146 With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign 

to the roar of the multitude encircling its spacious arena. 
Now all was silent. Only bats and owls circled through 
its broken arches or flew from its tilted columns, 
alarmed perchance by the curse of an Australian trooper 
sleeping uneasily amidst its ruins. While the bivouac 
fires yet flickered on this hoary pile I sought the shelter 
of a motor lorry, in which, rolled in a blanket, I lay snug 
and warm throughout the night. 

From my own observation I can testify that the words 
of the Prophet Ezekiel were literally fulfilled when he 
wrote : " And I will make Rabbah (Ammon) a stable 
for camels, and the Ammonites a couching place for 
flocks." — (Ezekiel, Chap. xxv. verse 5.) 

It must have been a very pleasant city in the old days, 
and I see no reason why its glories should not be revived 
under a stable form of Government. The country all 
round is fruitful and its waters sweet and abundant. 

In the present straggling town there is a large colony 
of Circassians, and in the two previous raids made by 
the British on this place these people had in each case 
made a treacherous attack on our rearguard. The New 
Zealand Mounted Rifles suffered somewhat severely in 
the raid made on March 30th, 1918. 

I left the ancient capital of the Ammonites soon after 
daybreak and, as I journeyed towards Es Salt, I had a 
magnificent view of the snow-capped Lebanons away in 
the far distance, while Gilead and Bashan lay spread 
out before me to the foot of Mount Hermon. 

Es Salt and the hills surrounding it form the gateway 
to a vast rich hinterland. I have never seen grapes as 
large as those that grow in Gilead, or tasted any to 




PART OF THE GREAT AMPHITHEATRE AT AMMAN 

(See pare 145) 




CIRCASSIAN CART AT AMMAN 

{See page 146) 



The Crown of Victory 147 

compare with them in flavour. Figs, too, were delicious 
and abundant in and about Es Salt. 

Rumours now began to get about that the Turkish 
force, still on the Hedjaz Railway to the south of 
Amman, would attempt to break through and try to 
escape northwards to Damascus by way of Nimrin. 

General Chaytor ordered me to take steps to meet such 
an emergency, so I wired to Major Neill to put the place 
in a state of defence, and on September 28th I pro- 
ceeded there myself and resumed command of the 
battalion. 

While Chaytor 's Force was holding the enemy on the 
Jordan and, later, chasing him through the Moab hills, 
the C.-in-C. was using the bulk of his forces in destroying 
the enemy holding the country to the West of the Jordan, 
and a very brief account of the operations may prove 
interesting to the reader. 

In the neighbourhood of Jaffa a Franco- British force 
was assembled consisting of five Divisions of Infantry, 
a French detachment about 4,000 strong, the 5th 
Australian Light Horse Brigade, two brigades of moun- 
tain artillery, and eighteen batteries of heavy and siege 
artillery. 

Carefully concealed in the orange and olive groves 
round about Jaffa and Ludd lay the 4th and 5th Cavalry 
Divisions, the Australian Mounted Division (less one 
Brigade) , and four squadrons of French Colonial Cavalry 
(Spahis and Chasseurs d'Afrique). 

All these were ready to dash north the moment the 
infantry and artillery had broken a gap in the enemy's 
line to the North of Jaffa. 

K2 



148 With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign 

!With this highly mobile force a brilliant victory was 
achieved, but of course the historian will not give to the 
E . E . F . campaign the extravagant praise which has been 
lavished upon it by an ill-informed public, ignorant as 
yet of the fact that in the field of operations the strength 
of the British to that of the Turk was as that of a tiger 
to a tom-cat. 

The bulk of the Turkish forces were on or south of a 
line drawn from Jisr ed Damie, on the Jordan, through 
Nablus and Tul Keram to the Mediterranean. His 
fighting strength on this front was, roughly, 17,000 
Infantry, 1,000 Cavalry, and 266 guns. His line of 
communication was long and bad. He was about i ,200 
miles from his base at Constantinople, and, owing to in- 
complete tunnels at Amanus and Taurus and a change 
of gauge at Ryak, there were no less than three bad 
breaks in the single line of railway which had to carry 
his reinforcements, munitions, equipment, and food both 
to the Palestinian and Mesopotamian fronts. 

His troops were badly fed and badly led ; medical 
arrangements were very poor ; there was considerable 
friction between the Turks and Germans, and the 
Turkish Army was composed of a mixture of races, many 
of them hating their masters with a fierce hatred. 

Here were all the elements of a debacle on a grand 
scale. 

On the morning of September 19th one of the most 
triumphant cavalry marches ever recorded in the world's 
history began at Jaffa, and before the troops engaged in 
it drew rein in far-off Aleppo, five weeks later, they had 
covered some 500 miles through an enemy's country, 



The Crown of Victory 149 



captured or destroyed over 50,000 Turks, seized 
Damascus, Beyrout, and Aleppo, and brought to an 
inglorious end the Ottoman Empire. 

This was no mean record for a mere handful of 
mounted men to accomplish. We must not forget, how- 
ever, that without the lavish help of the other arms-- 
infantry, artillery, and especially the Air Force, victory 
on such a colossal scale could not have been achieved. 

It almost seems as if this crowning victory had been 
pre-ordained to take place in the year 191 8. Every- 
body knows that the Jewish era differs from the Christian 
era, but perhaps not so many are aware that the Jewish 
year 5679 corresponds to the year 19 18 of our era. A 
peculiarity of the Hebrew language is that every numeral 
has a special meaning other than that connected with time 
or figures. In the dim and distant past, when seers, 
sages, and scribes were devoutly engaged in evolving 
such things, was it even then pre-ordained that this 
crowning victory — this victory which will surely hasten 
the restoration of Israel — should take place in the year 
5679 ? However that may be, it is certainly extra- 
ordinary that the figures 5, 6, 7, 9, being interpreted, 
should mean Ha-atereth — " Crown of Victory." 



CHAPTER XIX. 

The Strategical Value of Palestine. 

WHEN Turkey, unfortunately for herself, ranged 
her forces on the side of our enemies in the 
Great War she severed a friendship which had lasted 
for the greater part of a century. Our policy had for 
many years been to uphold the integrity of the Ottoman 
Empire because, with that Power holding Palestine, our 
Egyptian interests were quite safe. Now that the 
Turkish Empire has practically ceased to exist, Palestine 
becomes of cardinal importance to our Eastern interests. 

Situated as it is at the Gate of the three Continents of 
Europe, Asia, and Africa, its strategical, political, and 
economic importance is beyond computation and out of 
all proportion to the size of this diminutive country. 

Students of strategy and military history will agree 
that Palestine, although some distance from the Suez 
Canal region, dominates that main artery of our trade 
and commerce. 

The eastern boundary of Egypt, running from Rafa 
on the Mediterranean to Akaba on the Gulf of that name 
in the Red Sea, is, from a military point of view, worth- 
less. History tells us that all down the ages armies have 
crossed the Sinai Desert and worked their will on the 

150 



The Strategical Value of Palestine 151 

dwellers by the Nile. Early in the War we ourselves 
were unable to hold this Egyptian Frontier and were 
forced to retire to the line of the Suez Canal. It is true 
we defeated the Turks there and drove them out of 
Egypt, but the risk to our communications was very 
grave. It is a risk that should never again be taken, 
and for the future the Suez Canal must be defended, at 
all events on the Eastern side, from its strategical 
frontier — Palestine. With a friendly people established 
in the Judaean strongholds, and with sea power in our 
hands, the invasion of Egypt from the East or North 
would be a well-nigh impossible enterprise. It was 
always a cause of surprise to me that we did not very 
early in the War seize and fortify the harbours of Haifa 
and Jaffa. This might easily have been done, as they 
were practically undefended, and the people were in 
their hearts pro-British. Even Gaza could have been 
occupied and fortified in the early days. With these 
three towns in our hands no Turkish force could have 
been organised in Palestine or used against Egypt. No 
army could possibly march down the maritime plain with 
these occupied towns menacing their flank, while the 
other route to Egypt by the eastward of the Jordan 
Valley is almost impossible for a large army. 

Some eighty years ago Ibrahim Pasha was forced to 
retire to ^gypt from Damascus by this eastern route 
because we held the coast ports. He left the ancient 
capital of Syria with some eighty thousand men, and, 
although he fought no battle on the way, his losses from 
sickness, hunger, thirst, and fatigue amounted to over 
sixty -five thousand men. 



152 With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign 

[This gives one some little idea of the chance we missed 
in not making adequate use of our sea power by seizing 
the coast towns in the Levant during the Great War. 

The physical conformation of Palestine adds enor- 
mously to its strategical strength. 

The country is divided into four longitudinal belts run- 
ning practically throughout the length of the country 
from North to South. Along the sea coast run the 
narrow maritime plains of Philistia, Sharon, and Acre. 
These narrow plains stretch from the borders of Egypt 
to the mountains of Lebanon. 

The next belt of country consists of the continuation of 
the Lebanon range, which runs down practically un- 
broken through central Palestine, losing itself in the 
Southern Desert. 

This hilly range constitutes the heart of the Holy 
Land and comprises the provinces of Galilee, Samaria, 
and Judaea. The only complete break in this range 
occurs between Galilee and Samaria, where the Plain of 
Esdraelon and the Valley of Jezreel cut right across and 
leave an open doorway from East to West. Through 
this gap from time immemorial armies have marched and 
counter-marched to and from Egypt. 

The next belt of country is the great depression of 
the Jordan Valley, the deepest known in the world- It 
runs from " the waters of Merom," near the foothills of 
Hermon, where it is on a level with the Mediterranean, 
to the Dead Sea, where it is nearly 1,300 ft. below sea- 
level. 

To the eastward of the Jordan Valley runs the table- 
land of the Hauran, Gilead, and Moab. This rich belt 



The Strategical Value of Palestine 153 

of territory is from twenty to sixty miles wide and ranges 
from 2,000 ft. to 4,000 ft. above sea-level. It loses 
itself to the South and East in the Arabian and Syrian 
Deserts. 

The natural frontiers of Palestine are the Mediterra- 
nean on the West, the Syrian Desert to the East, the 
Arabian and Sinai Deserts to the South, and the difficult 
mountain passes of the Lebanon to the North. Next to 
the sea no better frontiers can be found than mountain 
passes and deserts. 

It will therefore be seen that if Palestine is given 
anything like her Biblical frontiers, troops could readily 
be placed on any threatened point and practically make 
the invasion of the country an impossibility. 

As a matter of fact, a small national army in Palestine 
would make that country almost as impregnable as are 
the Cantons of Switzerland. 

It is of the first importance to British interests to 
further the creation of a friendly State in Palestine which 
would act as a buffer between herself and any aggressive 
neighbour to the North or East. 

The greatest soldiers and statesmen of the past 
realised that in order to obtain dominion over the East 
it was first of all necessary to secure the friendly co- 
operation of the people of Palestine. 

Alexander the Great knew what a help to his Greek 
Empire of the East the Jews would be. He therefore 
showed them the greatest friendship, and allowed them 
every possible civil and religious liberty. 

Later on, when Palestine came under the dominion of 
Rome, Julius Caesar, the first and greatest of the Roman 



154 With the Judseans in the Palestine Campaign 

Emperors, realized so fully that without a friendly 
Palestine he could not hope to overthrow the Parthians 
and Persians to the eastward that in order to obtain the 
friendship of the Jews he freed Palestine from tribute, 
withdrew his legions from the country, exempted Jews 
from serving in the army, and allowed them full liberty 
of conscience, not only in Palestine but throughout the 
entire Empire. 

Coming down to more modern times, we find 
Napoleon following as far as possible the policy of his 
two great predecessors. At one time, early in his 
career, he made an effort to restore the Jews to Palestine, 
and he would probably have been successful in his 
scheme, and made himself ruler of a French Empire in 
the East, only, unfortunately for him. Nelson, at the 
battle of the Nile, deprived him of the command of the 
sea. Nothing daunted by this, however, he marched 
his soldiers through the Sinai Desert and subdued prac- 
tically all Palestine, but, owing to British sea-power, we 
were able to throw troops into Acre, and by his defeat 
at the famous siege of that place. Napoleon's eastern 
ambitions came to an end. 

Great as was the importance of a friendly Palestine to 
the Greek and Roman Empires, a friendly Palestine 
to-day is of immensely more importance to the peace and 
prosperity of the British Empire. Our statesmen were, 
therefore, but following in the footsteps of the greatest 
men of the past when they issued the world-famous 
Balfour Declaration pledging England to use her best 
endeavours to establish a National Home in Palestine 
for the Jewish people. 



The Strategical Value of Palestine 155 

It is useless to deny the fact that England is not nearly 
so popular in the Near East as she was thirty or forty 
years ago. The Egyptians have shown us pretty 
clearly that they have no love for us, while it is very 
evident that the Arab kingdoms have ambitions of their 
own in those regions, which might prove a very grave 
menace to our eastern communications. Naturally, 
Turkey — or what is left of that once great Empire — 
realises that it is to England that she owes her downfall, 
while the policy of Greece, at the moment at all events, 
also runs counter to our own. 

It is very necessary, therefore, that Palestine should 
be colonised by a people whose interests will go hand in 
hand with those of England and who will readily grasp 
at union with the British Empire. 

The Jews are the only people who fulfil these condi- 
tions. They have ever looked upon Palestine as their 
natural heritage, and although they were ruthlessly torn 
from it some two thousand years ago, yet through all the 
terrible years of their exile they have never lost the 
imperishable hope of a return to the Land of Promise. 
They have always.had a friendly feeling for this country, 
and if England now deals justly with Israel, this friendly 
feeling will be increased tenfold. They would be quite 
unable to stand alone in Palestine for some time, and 
therefore their one aim and object would be to co-operate 
wholeheartedly with the Power that had not only re- 
instated them in their own land, but whose strong arm 
was adequate to protect them from the encroachments 
and aggressions of neighbouring states. 

It will undoubtedly be their policy to walk hand in 



156 With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign 

hand with England. British and Jewish interests are so 
similar and so interwoven that they fit into each other as 
the hand does the glove. 

In short, when the long-expected Restoration of the 
Jewish people to the Promised Land becomes an accom- 
plished fact, then the vital interests of the British 
Empire in those regions will be unassailable. 



CHAPTER XX. 

Hospital Scandal at Jerusalem. 

IT will be remembered that I had been ordered to 
proceed to Nimrin to intercept any Turks who 
might attempt to break through from the South. When 
I reached my camp I found about 1,500 Turkish 
prisoners already concentrated there ; hundreds of them 
were too feeble and ill to be marched further, but about 
1,000 were considered fit enough to go on, and these 
were escorted by Captain Harris and a small detach- 
ment of the 38th to Jericho, and, after a short rest there, 
on to the prisoners' cage at Ludd. 

On October ist Battalion Headquarters moved to 
Jerusalem, and on the way thither it was pitiful to see 
these unfortunate Turkish prisoners, starving and sick, 
crawling at a snail's pace up the steep ascent from the 
Jordan Valley through the Judaean Wilderness; many 
fell by the way and died from sheer exhaustion. The 
medical arrangements were quite inadequate to cope 
even with our own sick, who now began to feel the effect 
of the poisonous Mellahah, and went down daily by 
scores. 

Our new camp was situated about a mile outside the 
walls of Jerusalem to the southward, on the Hebron road, 
and by the time we reached it hundreds of the men, 
exhausted and worn out from the effects of their terrible 
experiences in the Jordan Valley, were ill with malaria ; 

157 



158 With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign 

practically every officer also was struck down with the 
same fell disease. I myself had been far from well 
throughout the recent operations, but I managed, with 
the skilful aid of our Medical Officer, Captain Haldin 
Davis, to keep going. 

Unfortunately, just before we arrived in Camp, there 
had been a terrific downpour of rain, which had 
thoroughly soaked the ground, and as there was no 
hospital accommodation available, the unfortunate 
patients had to lie on the wet earth, with only one 
blanket, and no medical comforts or treatment. There 
were no nurses or orderlies, and the men received no 
attention of any kind, except such as could be given by 
those of their comrades who were still able to move 
about. As a result of this lamentable state of affairs, 
which could easily have been prevented by a little fore- 
thought on the part of the Staff, many died of jnalaria 
and pneumonia, and one poor fellow killed himself by 
cutting his throat in his delirium. 

Captain Davis had been taken ill at Nimrin, and re- 
moved in an ambulance to hospital. I made urgent 
appeals for another doctor, but without avail, and it was 
nearly a whole year before the authorities thought it 
worth while to provide a medical officer for this Jewish 
Battalion, which at one time was almost 2,000 strong. 
Not only were the Jewish troops unable to find hospital 
accommodation, but hundreds of others also — British, 
Australian, New Zealand, and Indian. 

The whole thing was a grave scandal, which must be 
laid at the door of the responsible muddlers. 

It was distressing to see the German Hospice on the 



Hospital Scandal at Jerusalem 159 

Mount of Olives, a building which was absolutely ideal 
for a Hospital, used for Staff purposes, while the sick 
and wounded men, who had suffered all the hardships 
and done all the fighting, were allowed to lie about on 
the wet ground in and around Jerusalem. The muddle 
was not the fault of the few medical men on the spot, for 
they worked like slaves. The whole of the blame for 
this wanton lack of organisation rests with G.H.Q. I 
had written in the previous July recommending that 
hospital accommodation should be provided at Jerusalem 
for Jewish troops, but no notice was taken of my recom- 
mendation. If this had been acted upon many deaths 
and much unnecessary suffering would have been 
avoided. 

In my own battalion we lost over a score of men in 
this way, who, I am convinced, would not have died if 
proper hospital arrangements had been available, and 
had it not been for the timely arrival of Captain Salaman, 
R.A.M.C., with the 39th Battalion, to whom I turned 
over all my sick, the death-roll would in all probability 
have been much greater. 

The battalion numbers, owing to the hardships we 
had undergone, were reduced from a strength of nearly 
1 ,000 to about six officers and less than 1 50 men. 

I can illustrate the pettiness of at least some of the 
G.H.Q. Staff no better than by giving the following 
correspondence . 

It will be remembered that I had reported to General 
Allenby in the Jordan Valley that the medical arrange- 
ments were not good. This apparently displeased some 
of the Staff, for they hunted up a private telegram which 



i6o With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign 

I had sent some months previously (on July i8th), 
addressed to the Secretary, Medical Committee, Jewish 
Regiment, London, in which I had said : — 

" You should see Sir Nevil Macready. Am 
strongly advising base to be at Jerusalem." 

On discovering this mare's nest the D.A.G. sent the 
following memo, to General Chaytor : — 

A. 13780. To General Chaytor, 

Subject : Medical Headquarters, 

Arrangements for Chaytor 's Force. 

Jewish Battalions. 

Please find attached herewith a copy of a telegram 
purporting to have been sent by the Officer Com- 
manding 38th Royal Fusiliers. 

Please call upon this officer to furnish his reasons 
and such explanation as he may have to offer for 
advising a course of action which concerns the 
C.-in-C. under whom he is serving, without 
reference to or obtaining permission from the 
C.-in-C. 

(Signed) — Major-General, D.A.G. 
G.H.Q. 1st Echelon, 

17th September, 191 8. 

All this ado because I had simply sent a private tele- 
gram to the Jewish Hospital Committee months before 
to say I was advising a Hospital base to be set up at 
Jerusalem. This telegram was in reply to a cable from 
the Committee in London asking if special hospital 
accommodation could be provided for Jewish soldiers. 



Hospital Scandal at Jerusalem i6i 

From the date on this memorandum it will be seen 
that G.H.Q. thought fit to send out such a communica- 
tion on the very eve of the great advance. It would 
have been much more useful if the Deputy Adjutant 
General had devoted his attention to providing Hospital 
accommodation for the unfortunate sick and wounded, 
instead of choosing such a moment to harry troops in 
the field engaged in a great offensive, the success of 
which meant everything to England. 

There was no excuse whatever for this memo., 
because on the 26th June, 19 18, immediately on receipt 
of the cable from the Hospital Committee, I had sent 
the following to G.H.Q. : — 

38th Battn. R.F. 
No. A/412/1/3. 
31st Inf. Brg. No. ^yd. 
loth Divn. No. 1324A. 
XX. Corps No. P.C.A. 563. 
G.H.Q. ist Echelon No. a/13780. 
Head Q. 3 ist. Inf. Brg. 

I have received the following cable from the Hon. 
Sec. Medical Committee for Jewish Units : 

" The Matron-in-Chief Q.A.I.M.N.S. 
sanctions Jewish Nursing Staff for Service in 
Palestine. Can you arrange Jewish wards in 
existing military Hospitals or other special 
provision ? 

Committee awaits reply." 

With reference to the above cable I have to 
state that when I was organising the Jewish Units 



1 62 With the Judasans in the Palestine Campaign 

in England, I had recommended a Jewish Base 
Hospital, and the A.G., Sir N. Macready, had 
sanctioned this, and given instructions, after I left 
England for Egypt, that it was to be based at 
Plymouth. 

The A.G. probably misunderstood my intention 
when he based it at Plymouth, as I had intended 
that the Hospital should be based in Egypt or 
Palestine. I therefore wrote home and suggested 
that there was no need for a special Jewish Hospital 
in England. 

I have no doubt that the above cable is the 
result of some negotiation with the A.G., and I 
would suggest that this matter be referred to 
G.H.Q., I St Echelon, so that they may get into 
touch with the W.O., and find out what has been 
decided upon in this question. Personally I would 
recommend that the Hospital should he at Jeru- 
salem. 

(Signed) J. H. Patterson, Lt. -Colonel, 
Commanding 38th Battn., R.F. 
In the Field, 26/6/18. 

To the above I received the following reply : 

A/13780. 
Subject : Jewish Wards, 
and Military Hospitals. 
H.Q. 20TH Corps. 

With reference to your memo. No. P.C.A. 565, 
dated 30/6/18, and attached correspondence re- 
garding the question of Jewish wards in Military 



Hospital Scandal at Jerusalem 163 

Hospitals. All Jewish soldiers will be sent to one 
particular Ward in the 27th General Hospital, as 
long as the casualty rate allows of this procedure 
being followed. 

(Signed) F. Dalrymple, Lt. -Colonel, 

A.A.G. for D.A.G. 
G.H.Q., ist Echelon, 
10/7/18. 

It will be seen therefore that if the D.A.G. had only 
known what was going on in his own office there would 
have been no need for him to trump up this petty inquisi- 
tion, or trouble anybody for an explanation about a 
private telegram which had been sent to London a 
couple of months previously. General Chaytor had the 
good sense to retain the D.A.G. 's memo, until active 
operations were over, upon which he sent it on to me. 
As an explanation had to be given, the following is a 
copy of my reply : 

Headquarters, 

Chaytor' s Force. A/412/1/3. 

With reference to your M . C . 4 1 2 dated 13/10/18 
re medical arrangements for Jewish Battalions, I 
think that perhaps it will explain the situation if I 
point out that I was in direct touch with the War 
Ofhce on all questions affecting the Jewish Batta- 
lions, and I had several interviews with Sir Nevil 
Macready on matters relating to this Jewish move- 
ment ; in fact, I was looked upon in England as the 
responsible leader, and I had every conceivable 
kind of case to investigate and decide. I had 

L2 



164 With the Judasans in the Palestine Campaign 

already told Sir Nevil Macready my views while 
in England re Hospital for Jewish soldiers, and 
when I got a cable from this unofficial medical 
committee I replied in a private cable recommending 
them to consult him, and stating my own private 
views on the question. 

I certainly do not consider this private expression 
of opinion as " advising a course of action," and 
when I sent the cable nothing was further from my 
mind. I simply referred the Committee to Sir 
Nevil Macready, with whom I had already dis- 
cussed the matter, and said what I personally 
thought the best place for a base. 

Naturally no action could be taken without con- 
sulting the C.-in-C, E.E.F. ; as a matter of fact 
I did forward a copy of this telegram to G.H.Q., 
and also a letter in which I recommended Jerusalem 
as a base. 

I attach copy of my letter and, at the same time, 
I regret that my advice re Hospital at Jerusalem 
was not taken. If a Jewish Hospital had been 
established there, before the recent operations took 
place, much unnecessary suffering and many deaths 
would have been avoided. Men of the Jewish 
Battalions, who were very ill indeed, were lying 
about in hundreds on wet ground in Jerusalem, 
because there was no room for them in the over- 
crowded hospitals, and it was quite impossible to 
get our sick evacuated for days after they had really 
become cot cases. 

It was no fault of the Medical Officers on the 



Hospital Scandal at Jerusalem 165 

spot ; it was simply impossible to cope with the 
sick for want of Medical Officers and hospital 
accommodation. I may mention that of the Bat- 
talion under my command alone there are 27 
Officers and 824 other ranks in hospital, as a result 
of the Jordan Valley and subsequent operations. 

In conclusion I must say I am somewhat surprised 
that a private communication which I sent to a 
private individual in July last should be produced 
at this stage. 

I again and most emphatically state that I advised 
no course of action, merely gave my private opinion, 
and had no idea of any such action when I sent the 
cable. 

(Signed) J. H. Patterson, Lt. -Colonel, 

Commanding 38th Battn. Royal Fusiliers. 
In the Field, 
19/10/18. 

As a result of the representations made by the Medical 
Committee in England on behalf of the Jewish Bat- 
talions, a Staff of Jewish Nurses, in charge of Sister 
Oppenheimer, were sent out to the 27th General Hos- 
pital at Abbasieh, near Cairo, and I have on many 
occasions heard expressions of gratitude showered on 
these nurses by men who had been under their care. 

It will be remembered that a number of Palestinian 
Jewish ladies volunteered for Nursing Service as soon 
as the British occupied Jaffa and Jerusalem. I had 
strongly urged that their offer of service should be 
accepted and that they should be taken on and trained, 



1 66 With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign 

for I foresaw that they would be required as soon as a 
determined effort to oust the Turk from Palestine was 
made. 

Unfortunately, my advice was not taken, for, as I have 
already shown, they were sadly needed in Jerusalem. 

Later on about half-a-dozen Jewish ladies, including 
the Misses Berline, who were well known in Jaffa and 
Jerusalem, were enrolled and attached to the General 
Hospital at Belah. I went there on more than one 
occasion to see my men, and on enquiring from the 
Matron-in-Charge how the Jewish nurses were getting 
on she told me that she had never had better or more 
conscientious workers under her in all her experience. 

It was deplorable that the Staff had ignored the volun- 
tary offer of the Jewish ladies until it was almost too late 
to make use of their services. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

Life at Ludd. 

ON the 9th October the battered remnant of the 
battalion moved from Jerusalem to Ludd by rail, 
where it was taken on the strength of Lines of Com- 
munication troops for garrison duties. 

When we heard that we were to be severed from the 
Anzacs our feeling was one of regret, for every individual 
in the battalion had the greatest admiration, respect, and 
affection for General Chaytor and his Staff, and, in fact, 
a feeling of real comradeship for every officer and man 
in the Anzac Mounted Division. 

My sick and ailing could not even yet be taken into 
Hospital owing to lack of accommodation, so I left them 
attached to the 39th Battalion, under the care of Captain 
Salaman, R.A.M.C. 

Our transport had been ordered to proceed from 
Jerusalem to Ludd by road on the 5th October, but as the 
animals were worn to mere skin and bone by hard work, 
and nearly all the drivers were down with malaria, I 
represented to the authorities that it would be impossible 
for them to move for at least a week, so they remained 
in Jerusalem for some days after Battalion Headquarters 
had left the City. 

167 



1 68 With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign 

(When eventually the transport marched in to Ludd I 
found both animals and men in a most pitiable condition. 
One of my best N.C.O.s, Corporal Lloyd, was delirious 
with fever, and several other men who should have gone 
into Hospital at Jerusalem but were unable to gain admis- 
sion were brought down on the wagons. All these I sent 
into the local Hospital ; Corporal Lloyd unfortunately did 
not recover, and died soon after he was admitted. Of 
the half-dozen officers who had so far escaped the 
malaria, one after another went down and were carried 
off to Hospital, until, out of the whole battalion, only 
Captain Leadley, Lieutenant Bullock, and myself were 
left in Camp ! 

Major Neill was one of the last to succumb, and his 
attack was so severe that his life was despaired of. He 
was on the " dangerously ill" list for some time, but 
fortunately recovered. 

Day after day the few remaining men we had left went 
to hospital until, in the end, I was put to such straits that 
I had to appeal once more to the Australians, who had 
a reinforcement camp near us under the command of 
Major Ferguson. I rode over and told him the difficulty 
I had in finding men even to feed my animals, and asked 
him to spare me a score of troopers to help with the 
exercising, watering, and grooming, etc., of the trans- 
port animals. 

As usual, the Australians were all out to help, and 
readily gave me all the assistance I asked for. 

Soon after the 38th Battalion left Jerusalem, Colonel 
Margolin also received orders to proceed to Ludd, 
although it was well known that hundreds of sick were 



Life at Ludd 169 



in the camp. What would have happened to these un- 
fortunate sufferers if he had obeyed orders and marched 
away leaving them to their fate, sick and helpless as 
they were, I shall leave the reader to imagine. Luckily 
for these poor fellows Colonel Margolin refused to leave 
until such time as they could be accommodated in 
Hospital. 

Eventually he succeeded in getting his men into 
medical wards, and then he and what was left of his 
battalion came and camped within a mile of us at Sura- 
fend, a village betwen Ludd and Jaffa. 

On the evening of the 22nd October Colonel Margo- 
lin and Captain Salaman rode into my camp and com- 
plained to me of the discrimination and unfair treatment 
to which the Jewish soldiers were being subjected in the 
Hospitals — giving me various instances to illustrate 
certain of their statements. 

As the Senior Officer of the Jewish Battalions, not 
being myself a Jew, I was deeply hurt at the un-English 
methods adopted towards men who had done so well in 
the field in England's cause, and felt that I would not be 
doing my duty to those under my command, and to 
Jewry generally, unless I protested against this unfair 
discrimination. 

I considered that the best way of bringing matters to 
a head was by requesting to be relieved of my command 
as a protest against the anti- Jewish policy which pre- 
vailed. I accordingly sent forward my resignation. This 
found its way to G.H .Q. , but as certain individuals there 
had no desire to see me land unmuzzled in England, my 
resignation was not accepted. Some of the Staff knew 



170 With the Judseans in the Palestine Campaign 

only too well that if I were free to return to England I 
would at once let the authorities there know that their 
representatives in Palestine were not carrying out the 
declared policy of the Imperial Government, but, on the 
contrary, were doing their best to make of the Balfour 
Declaration a mere " scrap of paper." 

As G.H.Q. was then only some two miles from my 
Camp I thought it might help matters if I could see 
Major-General Louis Jean Bols, the Chief-of-Staff, and 
get him to put a stop to the persecution that was going 
on, and see that his underlings " played the game." I 
therefore called on this gentleman, but he, for reasons 
best known to himself, refused to see me. 

I told his A.D.C. that I was camped close by and 
would be glad to see the General any time that was 
convenient to him, but I left his ofhce feeling there never 
would be a convenient time, and so, in fact, it turned 
out. 

When my resignation was refused and my request for 
an interview treated in the same manner, I made a 
vigorous protest against the anti- Jewish policy which 
prevailed, and stated that if it was not altered I would 
have the matter placed before the Secretary of State for 
War in Parliament. 

As a result of this I got a letter from G.H.Q. request- 
ing me to furnish a list of the complaints I wished 
to make, and also asking me to forward recommenda- 
tions for the improvement and comfort of the Jewish 
Battalion. 

In my reply I pointed out how the battalion had suf- 
fered owing to the discrimination to which it had been 



Life at Ludd 171 



subjected, and gave specific instances of unfair and unjust 
treatment during our service with the E.E.F. 

I also forwarded a separate memorandum recommend- 
ing various changes for the improvement and comfort of 
the men. I made five specific suggestions ; not a single 
one of these was carried out. 

One of my suggestions was that a special Jewish 
name and badge should be given to the battalion. This 
had been promised by the War Ofhce, but the fact that 
it was granted was purposely withheld from our know- 
ledge by the Staff, and it was only by accident, a whole 
year later, that I discovered this deliberate shelving of 
Army Council Orders by G.H.Q. in Egypt. 

This could not have been an oversight because I had 
written more than once to enquire whether this distinc- 
tion had yet been conferred on the battalion. 

Having seen the majority of my officers and men all 
carried off to Hospital, and feeling ill and depressed in 
my lonely camp, I sat down late one night and wrote a 
letter of condolence to Mrs. Cross. I told her that 
although we had wired to every Turkish Hospital, from 
Es Salt to Damascus, we could obtain no information 
about her husband ; I wound up my letter by stating that 
although there might still be some very faint hope, she 
must steel herself to face the facts, for I feared she would 
never see her husband again. 

It must have been close on midnight when I lay down., 
and, as I was unable to sleep, I was reading by the dim 
light of a candle when suddenly I saw a white ghostly 
face appear in the tent door, and only that I knew Cross 
was dead I would have thought it was the face of Cross. 



172 With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign 

Then a sepulchral voice said, " Are you awake, Sir ? " 
and I began to wonder if it were all a dream. When the 
figure approached the light, I saw that it really was 
Cross, so I bounded up to give him a welcome — such a 
welcome as one would give to a friend who had risen from 
the dead. 

It appeared that when the patrol had been ambushed, 
Cross got wounded and lay under a sandbank where he 
was discovered by the Turks ; they carried him off, and, 
as they were then retiring as fast as they could, took 
him with them, pushed him on to Amman, and from 
there by rail to Damascus. He was about to be sent 
further north when the British entered the city. In the 
confusion Cross made good his escape and eventually 
worked his way back to me. Thus it was that nobody 
knew anything of his whereabouts, for he had never 
reported to any of the Hospitals en route. 

Mrs. Cross had already been informed by the War 
Office that he was missing and reported killed. I told 
Cross that I had just posted a letter to his wife to say 
that I feared that he must have been killed : he, of course, 
at once sent a private cable to tell her that he was alive 
and well, while I sent an official one to the War Office 
giving the same account. At all events, my letter of 
condolence to Mrs. Cross will always be a good souvenir 
of the part her husband took in the Great War. 



CHAPTER XXII. 
At Rafa. 

THE Armistice with Turkey was announced on the 
31st October, 19 18, amid the firing of guns and 
rockets and joy stunts by the Air Force above our camp 
at Ludd. 

On the 6th November the battalion was ordered to 
proceed to Rafa to recuperate, refit and reorganise, and 
on the 7th, in the early morning, we arrived at this 
frontier station bordering on ' ' the desert and the town. ' ' 

Rafa is actually in Egypt, just over the borders of 
Palestine, on the Palestine- Egyptian Railway line some 
five miles from the Mediterranean, and here the tents 
of Israel were pitched. 

Along the whole coast in this neighbourhood there 
runs a belt, about four miles deep, of sand dunes and 
sand hills. These are very irregular in outline, running 
in some places to peaks nearly 100 feet in height, and in 
others forming miniature precipices, valleys and gullies. 
It is, in fact, a mountainous country on a lilliputian scale. 

The sand is so firm that a horse can be ridden all over 
it, thereby giving great joy to the hunters of the jackals 
and hyenas which roam on its barren surface. The air 
on this stretch of sandy dunes is wonderfully fresh and 

173 



174 With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign 

exhilarating, and we drank it in with delight after our 
trying experience in the Jordan Valley. The seashore 
itself abounds with millions of curious shells. 

The sand belt ends abruptly landwards and, at the 
very edge of it, the Bedouin scratches up the soil with 
an antiquated plough which dates from the time of 
Abraham. Green waving crops, pleasant to the eye, 
may be seen almost under the shadow of a sand cliff. 
The country inland consists of a somewhat sandy soil 
and gently undulating plains which are, for the greater 
part, cultivated by Arabs who live in scattered villages, 
and by Bedouins who come and go as the spirit moves 
them. The whole place is honeycombed with holes 
burrowed by the little conies, which makes riding at a 
fast pace somewhat hazardous. 

Such was the quiet little spot in which we found our- 
selves after our strenuous and exciting days in the Jordan 
Valley and the Land of Gilead. Day by day our men 
gradually came back from Hospital and, owing to drafts 
from the 40th Battalion, our strength was soon over 30 
officers and 1,500 other ranks. 

After a brief time for rest, we took over " Line of 
Communication " duties, and found ourselves with many 
miles of railway and country to safeguard. Our life 
now became one constant round of guards, escorts, 
fatigues, and drills whenever a few men could be spared 
from other duties for the latter purpose. There were 
thousands of prisoners cl war in our custody, as well 
as a huge captured Turkish ammunition depot, supply 
stores, engineer park, and all kinds of workshops, etc., 
etc. 




Q 
X. 

o 

w 
w 

CO tu; 
, ^ 



At Rafa 175 

Soon after we got to Rafa I lost the services of 
Captain Leadley, M .C. , who was demobilized at his own 
request and returned to England. I selected to succeed 
him Captain Duncan Sandison — as stubborn a Scot as 
ever wore a kilt, a first-rate officer, loyal to the core, 
and a great favourite with everybody except the evil- 
doers. 

Early in December I received another large draft of 
raw Jewish recruits from the 40th Battalion Royal 
Fusiliers — all American citizens. 

I strongly objected to these untrained men being sent 
to me under the circumstances in which I was placed, for 
it was impossible to give them any training owing to 
the excessive duties we were called upon to perform 
day and night. I knew that the result of putting raw 
recruits to fulfil duties which should have been carried 
out only by seasoned soldiers, must, before very long, 
end in disaster. I foresaw endless breaches of discipline, 
not because the men were evilly disposed, but because 
they were untrained and knew nothing of military 
discipline. 

I accordingly urged the Staff to remove all these 
recruits, of whom I had about 800, to a training centre, 
and repeatedly warned the authorities of what the result 
must be if this were not done, but not the slightest notice 
was taken of my appeal. 

It was a thousand pities that these enthusiastic 
American volunteers did not get a fair chance to 
show their mettle. I well remember how favour- 
ably I was impressed with their physique and 
general appearance when I inspected them on their 



176 With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign 

arrival at Rafa. They were miles ahead, physically, of 
the men who joined the battalion in England — in fact 1 
do not believe that there was a unit in the whole of the 
E . E . F. that held such a fine-looking body of men. Be- 
cause they were untrained and had no idea of discipline, 
these hefty youths were constantly in trouble for com- 
mitting breaches of military rules and regulations. They 
simply did not understand soldiering or what it meant. 
In this way 1 got to know the majority of them fairly 
well. We had many interesting meetings at " office 
hour." Of course, in dealing with these volunteers, I 
never forgot that the faults they were guilty of were, in 
great measure, due to lack of training, and I dealt with 
them accordingly. Their military offences were not 
grave, just the delinquencies that must be expected of 
recruits, because they are recruits. 

Nevertheless, it is always a danger to have a battalion, 
supposed to be at any moment ready to take the field, 
swamped with some 800 raw untrained men. 

I felt so strongly on this question, and so clearly fore- 
saw the inevitable end, that having failed to move the 
authorities myself, I cast about me to see where I could 
look for help and sympathy in the difficult situation in 
which I was placed ; the only possible man who might 
be able to do something was the Acting-Chairman of the 
Zionist Commission then in Palestine. It will be 
remembered that, soon after the famous Balfour Dec- 
laration, Dr. Weizmann, the President of the Zionist 
Organisation, was sent out at the head of a Commission 
to investigate conditions and safeguard Jewish interests 
in Palestine. Dr. Weizmann was received by H.M. 



At Rafa 177 

the King before his departure from England, and came 
out armed with strong letters from the Prime Minister 
and Mr. Balfour to General Allenby. Dr. Weizmann 
spent some time doing useful work in Palestine, and was 
then recalled to England in connection with the Zionist 
policy then before our Government. The mantle of Dr. 
Weizmann eventually fell on Dr. Eder, and to him I 
now applied myself, as it was a matier of the greatest 
importance that no undeserved slur should fall upon the 
Jewish Battalion. 

Like myself, however, Dr. Eder was unable to effect 
anything. 

I felt very strongly that the whole attitude adopted 
towards the Jewish Battalions was unworthy of British 
traditions of fair play. It is of course possible that 
General Allenby did not know of the treatment to which 
we were subjected by certain members of his Staff and 
other underlings, for naturally only the greater questions 
would come before him. If he had known he would 
surely never have countenanced the jeopardising of the 
good name of any battalion in the E.E.F. by swamping 
it with over 800 raw recruits who, owing to the " exi- 
gencies of the service, ' * had to be put on trained soldiers' 
duties the moment they joined. 

Unfortunately I was unable to let him know of our 
dilemma, for the Chief of Staff, Major-General Louis 
Jean Bols, had forbidden me to address the Commander- 
in-Chief direct, and apparently the appeals which I had 
made on this question never reached a sympathetic 
quarter. 

As I have already said, I had been ill from the 

M 



178 With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign 

time we began operations in the Jordan Valley and was 
now reduced to a skeleton, but by careful dieting I had 
hoped to weather the storm and had so far managed to 
keep out of Hospital. 

Thinking that a few days change would improve my 
health 1 applied for leave and went to Cairo. While I 
was there I happened by chance to meet Captain Sala- 
man in the street, and he was so shocked at my appear- 
ance that he straightway convoyed me off to Nasrieh 
Hospital, where I was taken in hand by Captain 
Wallace, R.A.M.C. In a couple of weeks he had me 
well enough to be transferred to the beautiful Convales- 
cent Home at Sirdariah, where the matron and staff of 
nurses were kindness and consideration personified ; a 
short spell in this well-managed institution completed my 
cure, at the end of which I rejoined the battalion. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

Return of the Anzacs. 

ABOUT this time the battalion was inspected by the 
G.O.C. Lines of Communication, and the follow- 
ing is what he wrote of the impression we made on him : 

Headquarters, 
Palestine Lines of Communication, 

8th January, 19 19. 
I was very glad to inspect your battalion and I 
was much struck with the soldierly appearance 
presented by the men. 

(Signed) E. W. Broadbent, 

General Officer Commanding P.L. of C. 

Isolated as we were on the edge of the desert we 
found life at Rafa somewhat dull and dreary. Sand- 
storms were the bane of one's life there ; a " Khamsin " 
or hot wind would blow for days at a time, enveloping 
the place in a cloud of fine sand and making life one long 
misery while it lasted. One's eyes, nose, and throat 
got choked up, while every morsel of food was full of 
grit. " Khamsin " is Arabic for fifty ; the hot wind 
is supposed to blow for that number of days but, thank 
Heaven, it rarely lasted more than a week on end at 
Rafa. 

179 M2 



i8o With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign 

There were no other troops in the place to vary the 
deadly monotony. True, there were some Engineers 
of the Railway Operating Division, but we found them 
somewhat selfish, for although they had an excellent 
Concert Hall they refused our Concert Party permission 
to use it. Even at Rafa the few underlings on the StafiE 
took their cue from above and did what they could to 
make our life as uncomfortable as possible, until they 
came to know us better. 

It can be imagined, therefore, with what joyful feel- 
ings we saw our old friends of the Anzac Division march 
into Rafa and make it their headquarters. 

Since we had parted from the Anzacs in Gilead we 
had seen nothing of them, but we knew that they had 
been camped in the green fields and pleasant pastures 
surrounding the Jewish Colony of Richon-le-Zion. The 
slings and arrows of misfortunes removed them from 
these sylvan surroundings, but whatever ill wind blew 
them to Rafa it was a godsend for us. 

In these piping days of Peace, now that we were 
among our old friends once more, there was horse - 
racing, hunting, tournaments and boxing galore, while 
an enterprising kinema man came and photographed 
camp scenes and groups of officers and men. 

In the sand dunes around Rafa many ancient coins 
were to be found, and General Chaytor himself could 
always be relied on to head a hunt for these and other 
relics of antiquity. We never failed to find some objects 
of interest — bits of glazed pottery, glass, beads, pins, 
bangles, rings, etc. Every time there was a storm the 
top sand would get blown away and we could always 



Return of the Anzacs i8i 



go and make fresh finds in the ground we had already 
explored, and great was the competition as to who 
should discover the best specimens. 

The General had the eye of a lynx for such things, and 
it was rarely indeed that anyone else had a look in while 
he was to the fore. He discovered some very beautiful 
old mosaics buried at Shellal, and these he had carefully 
sketched and artistically coloured, exactly as they were 
in the original. I was very pleased when he kindly pre- 
sented me with a copy. 

The rolling downs round about us were dotted here 
and there with the graves of fallen Australian and New 
Zealand soldiers, and, riding as I often did with General 
Chaytor, he would explain the operations which took 
place when the British first entered Palestine at this 
point. He gave me many vivid descriptions of the part 
which his Brigade had taken in the overthrow of the 
Turks at the Battle of Rafa. 

The General had a very narrow escape on that 
occasion. In the middle of the battle, when he was 
galloping from one position to another, attended only by 
his orderly, he came suddenly upon a concealed trench 
full of Turks. Fortunately they thought he was at the 
head of a Squadron, so threw up their hands and sur- 
rendered. The General left his orderly to march off 
the prisoners and galloped on to conduct the fight else- 
where. 

We motored over to Gaza once and spent a most 
interesting day there. 

From Ali Muntar, a hill to the east of the town, which 
had been the General's headquarters in the first battle 



1 82 With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign 

of Gaza, he described the whole situation. From this 
point almost every bit of Gaza and the surrounding 
country could easily be seen. 

It will be remembered that at the first battle we 
claimed a victory which history has not since been able 
to verify, for we retired in hot haste on Rafa ; but it is 
said that, if there had only been a little more push and 
go in the high command that day, Gaza would have been 
ours. 

As a matter of fact it was ours at one time, for part 
of General Chaytor's brigade was right in the town, 
where they captured some hundreds of prisoners and a 
couple of guns which they turned on the Turks in Gaza 
with considerable effect, sighting their strange new 
pieces at point blank range by peeping through the bore 
of the guns. 

The Turks were everywhere beginning to throw up 
the sponge, when, alas, the British Force was suddenly 
ordered to retire because a Turkish relieving column 
was seen approaching in the distance ; but if only the 
British Division, which all this time had been 
held in reserve, had been thrust forward to intercept 
this column, tired, thirsty, and done up as it was, we 
could, no doubt, have shattered it and won a complete 
victory. 

General Chaytor was ordered to retire somewhat early 
in the afternoon, but, as he had a squadron right in the 
town, and many wounded men in advanced positions, 
he waited until nightfall before withdrawing, taking with 
him all his wounded, and also the Turkish prisoners and 
captured guns. No matter who had the " wind up " 



Return of the Anzacs 183 



that day, it certainly was not General Chaytor or his 
Brigade. 

The second battle of Gaza was, of course, a terrible 
fiasco, in which we were repulsed and lost thousands of 
men to no purpose. 

On another occasion I motored, with Colonel Croll, 
R.A.M.C.,oftheAnzacs, to B eersheba . 1 1 was at this 
point that General AUenby made a successful thrust 
when he first took command in Palestine, and from that 
day to this he has never looked back. The Anzacs and 
the Australian Mounted Division in this attack made a 
wide turning movement, out-flanked B eersheba, burst 
suddenly in upon Tel el Saba, some three miles to the 
east of it, galloped the Turkish trenches, and poured into 
B eersheba at one end in a whirlwind of dust and storm 
while the Turks skedaddled out of it as fast as ever they 
could run from the other end, and made for the shelter 
of the foothills towards Hebron. 

The New Zealanders say that they were responsible 
for the capture of Tel el Saba, for it was they who out- 
flanked it ; while the Australians assured me that it was 
they who had stormed it at a mad gallop. At all events 
it was a decisive victory for the Australians and New 
Zealanders (for both took part in it), and as fine a piece 
of mounted work as had been done so far during the war. 
Dash, energy, and initiative were shown in a very high 
degree by all ranks engaged. 

In the little cemetery at Beersheba I visited the grave 
of Major Markwell, one of the bravest officers who fell 
that day. 

We also paid a visit to the site of Old Beersheba, and 



184 With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign 

were greatly interested in peering down into the well 
dug at this celebrated place by the Patriarch Abraham. 

From Beersheba we motored to Gaza along the former 
Turkish front ; every inch of the way had been fortified 
and turned into a maze of trenches, with formidable 
redoubts here and there throughout the line. 

Once Beersheba was captured, the heart was taken 
out of the Turkish resistance, though they put up some 
stiff fighting before they were dislodged, especially at 
Atawineh, a strong redoubt near the centre of the 
position. 

After the capture of Beersheba, Lieutenant-Colonel 
S. F. Newcombe, D.S.O., R.E., dashed northwards 
with part of the Camel Corps, to cut off the Turks re- 
treating on the Beersheba- Hebron Road. He reached 
a point within a few miles of the latter place, but was 
surrounded by six battalions of the enemy. He held out 
gallantly for three days ; but at last, when he had ex- 
hausted all his ammunition and suffered heavy casualties, 
he was obliged to surrender. 

Fate holds in its lap many surprises. If Colonel 
Newcombe had not been captured that day he would 
undoubtedly, with ordinary luck, have won distinction 
and rank, but there was another and better prize 
awaiting him at Constantinople, for, while he was a 
prisoner and convalescing in that city, he met a 
charming young lady who, at great personal risk, helped 
him to escape from the clutches of the Turk, and after- 
wards became his wife, 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

A Red- Letter Day. 

SOON after the Anzac Division came to Rafa, 
General Chaytor expressed a wish to inspect the 
battalion and present decorations to those officers, 
N.C.O.s, and men who had won them while under his 
command. 

It was a gloriously sunny afternoon, and every avail- 
able man in the battalion was on parade when General 
Chaytor, accompanied by Colonel Bruxner and Major 
Anderson, rode on to the review ground and took the 
" General Salute," 

The battalion was then formed up on three sides of a 
square ; the officers, N.C.O.s, and men to be decorated 
stood in the centre, and as each was called out to have 
the coveted honour pinned to his breast, his deeds were 
recounted to the assembled troops. 

Captain T. B. Brown won the Military Cross and bar 
for having gallantly led many a dangerous reconnaissance 
into the enemy's lines. 

Lieutenant Fligelstone was also decorated with the 
Military Cross for good, gallant, and dangerous work 
successfully performed while he was acting as machine- 
gun officer; 

18=; 



1 86 With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign 

Lieutenant Cameron and Lieutenant Bullock both 
won Military Crosses and bars for good and gallant 
patrol and intelligence work in the Jordan Valley. 

Corporal Bloom, Lance-Corporal Elfman, and 
Privates Angel and Robinson were all decorated with 
the Military Medal for various gallant acts performed in 
the Mellahah, and during the recent operations. 

Major Neill had the D.S.O. conferred on him for his 
able handling of the battalion while it was under his com- 
mand in " Patterson's Column," Captain Leadley 
received the Military Cross for his good Staff work, and 
Company Sergeant- Major Plant won the D.C.M. for 
special services rendered by him during the whole time 
we were in the fighting line. 

At the end of the presentation the General made the 
following address : 

Colonel Patterson, Officers, N.C.O.s, and men 
of the 38th Jewish Battalion Royal Fusiliers, I 
have specially come here to-day, first of all to 
present decorations to the officers and men who 
have won them in the recent operations under my 
command. 

Secondly, I want to tell you how sorry I am that I 
was not able to put you in the Van in the advance 
on Es Salt. I wished that you had been there, 
and I wanted you to be there, but the Indian 
Infantry and other units were in a more favourable 
position from which to spring off, while you were 
still entangled miles to the northward in the heavy 
«;andhiUs of the Jordan Valley. In any case, even 



A Red -Letter Day 187 

had you been in the Van you would have seen but 
little fighting, for the mounted men got well to the 
front and were able to effect the capture of Es Salt 
and Amman before the Infantry could possibly come 
up. 

I am pleased to be able to tell you, however, 
that I was particularly struck with your good work 
on the Mellahah front, and by your gallant capture 
of the Umm esh Shert Ford and defeat of the 
Turkish rearguard when I gave you the order to 
go, for I was then enabled to push my mounted men 
over the Jordan at that crossing, and so you con- 
tributed materially to the capture of Es Salt and of 
the guns and other material which fell to our share ; 
to the capture of Amman ; the cutting of the Hedjaz 
Railway, and the destruction of the 4th Turkish 
Army, which helped considerably towards the great 
victory won at Damascus. 

I briefly thanked the General for his praise of the bat- 
talion, and a march past the decorated officers and men 
concluded the pleasant ceremony. It was indeed a Red- 
Letter Day for the battalion. 

It will be seen from the above what really good work 
was done by the Jewish Battalion, and how much it was 
appreciated by the one man who was in a position to 
judge of our fighting abilities by actual experience in 
the field. 

Yet all mention of Jewish Troops was deliberately 
suppressed by the Staff at G.H.Q. True, Jewish 
Troops were mentioned in official despatches all over 



[88 With the Judasans in the Palestine Campaign 



the world, but the part of these despatches relating to 
Jewish Troops was never allowed to appear in the Pale- 
stinian and Egyptian papers. This naturally upset and 
humiliated both Jewish troops and the Jewish population 
generally, for it gave outsiders the impression that we had 
failed to do our duty, whereas, on the contrary, the 
Jewish Battalion had done extraordinarily good work 
for England. It would, therefore, have been only mere 
justice and fair play if it had received recognition in the 
local Egyptian and Palestinian Press, but it was rigidly 
excluded from all mention by what the Times truthfully 
branded as " the most incompetent, the most inept, and 
the most savagely ruthless censorship in any country 
under British control." 

This omission was especially noted by all when the 
Commander-in-Chief in his speech at Cairo, in Decem- 
ber , 1 9 1 8 , mentioned all nationalities who fought under 
his command, including Armenians and West Indians, 
but maintained a stony silence on the doings of Jewish 
Troops in Palestine. Coming on the top of all our per- 
secution, this was most marked. 

The following is indeed in his despatch published in 
England, which must by some fluke or other have 
dodged the Censor : 

General Allenby's Despatch, 

3 1 ST October, 19 i8. 

In operations east of the Jordan. 

The enemy, however, still held the bridge- 
heads on the west bank, covering the crossings of 
the Jordan at Umm es Shert, etc. 



A Red -Letter Day 189 

Early in the morning of the 22nd September, the 
38th Battalion Royal Fusiliers captured the bridge- 
head at Umm es Shert. 

Of the fighting troops, all have taken their 
share and have carried out what was required of 
them. 

I will bring to notice the good fighting qualities 
shown by the newer units. These include .... 
the 38th and 39th (Jewish) Battalions of the Royal 
Fusiliers. 

(Signed) E. H. H. Allenby, General, 

Commander-in-Chief, E.E.F. 

The Commander-in-Chief also wrote in reply to a 
letter of congratulation which he received from the 
Secretary of the Zionist Organization of America : 

2 2ND November, 1918. 
Dear Sir, 

I have the honour to acknowledge your letter 

You will be glad to hear that the Jewish Regi- 
ment did consistently good work. . . . 

I received letters of congratulations from many 
prominent people, but the most valued of all was from 
that wonderful and truly great man, Theodore Roose- 
velt. I only received this letter, written three weeks 
before his lamented death, towards the end of March — 
over two months after he had passed away. It had been 
sent to France in error, and wandered in and out 



190 With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign 

amongst the different armies there until somebody 
noticed that it had " E.E.F." on the address, and sent 
it on to Palestine : 

iiTH December, 191 8. 

My dear Colonel Patterson, 

I most heartily congratulate you on leading in 
what was not only one of the most important, but 
one of the most dramatic incidents in the whole War. 
To have the sons of Israel smite Ammon ' ' hip and 
thigh " under your leadership is something worth 
while. 

As for my own loss, the death of my son 
Quentin was very bitter, but it would have been far 
more bitter if he had been a hand's breadth behind 
his friends in entering the war. Two of my other 
sons have been wounded, one of them crippled. 
The other wounded one has recovered, and as 
Lieutenant-Colonel is now commanding his regi- 
ment on the march towards the Rhine. Kermit is 
Captain of Artillery, having first served in Meso- 
potamia, and then under Pershing in the Argonne 
fight. 

With hearty congratulations. 

Faithfully yours, 

T. Roosevelt. 

Although the Staff denied us any local credit, our 
Zionist friends in the country knew what good work the 
battalion had done, and we were glad to receive the 
following official letter from the Zionist Commission : 



A Red -Letter Day 191 



Zionist Commission to Palestine, 
c/o Chief Political Officer, 
G.H.Q., Tel- Aviv, Jaffa, Palestine, 
15TH October, 19 18. 
Colonel J. H. Patterson, D.S.O., 

38THR.F. 
Dear Colonel Patterson, 

It gives us great pleasure to express to you and 
to the men under your command of the 38th and 
39th Royal Fusiliers, on behalf of the Zionist Com- 
mission, our warmest congratulations on the suc- 
cessful part taken by the Royal Fusiliers in the last 
battle that brought about the liberation of the rest 
of Palestine. We have always followed with the 
keenest interest the doings of the Regiment, and 
we are proud to know that it has done bravely and 
well. 

At a meeting of the Zionist Commission held yes- 
terday. Lieutenant Jabotinsky informed us of the 
distinctions conferred upon four of the men of your 
battalion. It was resolved at this meeting to con- 
gratulate you thereon and ask you to be good 
enough to convey the congratulations of the Com- 
mission to the men who had earned these distinc- 
tions. 

With our best wishes for your welfare and that 
of the officers and men under your command, 
I am, dear Colonel Patterson, 

Yours faithfully, 
(Signed) Jack Mosseri, 

Secretary. 



192 With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign 

Soon after my return to England I received the follow- 
ing letter from General Chaytor, which will, I know, 
fill the hearts of the old boys of the 38th with pride : 

Wellington, 

New Zealand, 
9TH March, 1920. 
My dear Patterson, 

I hope the history of the 38th Battalion is out by 
now. So few people have heard of the battalion's 
good work, or of the very remarkable fact that in 
the operations that we hope have finally reopened 
Palestine to the Jews a Jewish force was fighting 
on the Jordan, within a short distance of where their 
forefathers, under Joshua, first crossed into Pales- 
tine, and all who hear about it are anxious to hear 
more. 

I shall always be grateful to you and your bat- 
talion for your good work while with me in the 
Jordan Valley. 

The way you smashed up the Turkish rearguard 
when it tried to counter-attack across the Jordan 
made our subsequent advance up the hills of Moab 
an easy matter. 

With best wishes, yours sincerely, 

(Signed) E. W. C. CHAYTOii. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

Jewish Soldiers are Forbidden to Enter the 
Holy City. 

ON the 24th February, 19 19, I was appointed to the 
command of ' ' Rafa Area. ' ' The ' ' Area ' ' was 
rather an extensive one ; it included nearly the whole of 
the Sinai Desert to the south, and Palestine to the north, 
almost as far as Bir Salem, while to the east it went 
beyond Beersheba to the Arabian Desert. There were 
over 1 50 miles of railway to guard, and the Bedouins had 
to be constantly watched and checked, or they would 
have played all sorts of pranks with the line. Constant 
patrols had to be maintained, and every day provided a 
fresh problem for solution. The fresh-water pipe line 
from Egypt ran alongside the railway and, of course, 
the wandering and thirsty Ishmaelite thought nothing of 
smashing this in order to get a drink for himself and his 
camel. We had to be on the alert all the time and nip 
these little enterprises of our friendly Allies in the bud. 
They did not hesitate to attempt to loot the supply stores 
of flour, forage, etc., stored at Rafa, and our sentries 
had many lively little encounters with these marauders, 
and I must say that the wily rascals took their chance of 
a bullet quite casually. While the Anzac Division was 
with us I felt quite easy in my mind about being able to 

193 N 



194 With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign 

keep these slippery customers in check, but it was quite 

another pair of shoes ' ' when the Anzacs were 

hurriedly called away to suppress the disorders in Egypt. 

In addition to the 38th Battalion, I had some Indian 
Infantry holding Gaza, and some South African troops 
holding El Arish. As demobilization progressed these 
were withdrawn and the whole of this great area was, in 
the end, solely garrisoned and guarded by the Jewish 
Battalion. They performed their arduous duties extra- 
ordinarily well. They were scattered up and down the 
line in small posts^^ often in the midst of Arab villages 
and Bedouin camps, yet there was never any friction 
between Jew and Arab, although here was a likely set- 
ting for it, if there had been any real ill-feelings animating 
either side ; but, as a matter of fact, the Jew and Arab 
got on wonderfully well together all over Palestine, and 
had worked amicably side by side for over forty years in 
the Jewish colonies. 

When the Egyptian Nationalist riots started the 
Military Governor of El Arish feared an outbreak in 
this large Arab town, so I had to send reinforcements 
to the garrison there under the command of Captain 
Jaffe, an officer of the battalion. Aeroplanes flew 
up from the Aerodrome at Heliopolis, and swooping 
low over El Arish put the fear of the Lord into the in- 
habitants ; this demonstration, and the great personal in- 
fluence of the Military Governor, Colonel Parker, kept 
these people quiet, and they gave us no trouble what- 
ever. 

Later on we had to guard a number of political 
prisoners who were sent up from Egypt as a result of the 



Forbidden to Enter the Holy City 195 

disturbances there, and this added considerably to the 
heavy work of the battalion. 

At Rafa there was an enormous Ammunition Depot, 
covering acres of ground, and this was a constant source 
of anxiety, and had to be guarded on all sides, night and 
day. While the Jewish troops held it in custody nothing 
untoward happened, but, after they were removed, by 
some evil chance the whole place was blown up with 
considerable loss of life. 

Notwithstanding the heavy work exacted from the bat- 
talion, there was one great consolation for the men. No 
petty discrimination could now be practised against them 
within my jurisdiction, and although I had five Staff 
Officers under my command, I found them quite good 
fellows, and willing to do all in their power to do the 
right thing by the Jewish troops. 

Discrimination against Jews was, however, still shown 
in other quarters. Early in April the men were consider- 
ably upset on the receipt of orders from G.H.Q. that no 
Jewish soldier would be allowed to enter Jerusalem 
during the Passover ; the order ran thus : 

The walled city (of Jerusalem) is placed out of 
bounds to all Jewish soldiers from the 14th to the 
22nd April, inclusive." 

I cannot conceive a greater act of provocation to 
Jewish soldiers than this, or a greater insult. The days 
during which they were prohibited from entering Jeru- 
salem were the days of the Passover. Think of it ! 
Jewish soldiers for the first time in their lives in Palestine 
and barred from the Temple Wall of Jerusalem during 



196 With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign 

Passover ! Only a Jew can really understand what it 
meant to these men, and the great strain it put on their 
discipline and loyalty. 

How provocative and insulting this order was will be 
better understood when it is realized that the majority of 
the population of Jerusalem is Jewish, and, therefore, 
there could have been no possible reason for excluding 
Jewish troops belonging to a British unit, while other 
British troops were freely admitted, more especially as 
the conduct of the Jewish soldiers was, at all times, 
exemplary. 

Not since the days of the Emperor Hadrian had such 
a humiliating decree been issued. 

However, to make up somewhat for the action of the 
authorities, I made arrangements for the Passover to 
be observed at Rafa with all the joy and ceremony 
usually attending that great Feast of the Jewish People. 
At considerable cost we provided unleavened bread, as 
well as meat and wine — all strictly " Kosher." As we 
were nearly 2,000 strong at this time, the catering for 
the feast had to be most carefully gone into, and Lieut. 
Jabotinsky, Lieut. Lazarus, and the Rev. L. A. 
Falk did yeoman service in providing for all needs. 
It was a wonderful sight when we all sat down 
together and sang the Hagadah on the edge of the Sinai 
desert. 

The Zionist Commission and Miss Berger, an 
American Zionist, helped us materially with funds, and 
our friends in England did likewise. The Acting Chair- 
man of the Zionist Commission sent me the following 
letter for the occasion : — 



Forbidden to Enter the Holy City 197 

Zionist Commission to Palestine, 
c/o Chief Political Officer, 

G.H.Q., Palestine. 
Jerusalem, April 6, 19 19. 
To the Colonel of the 38th Battalion, 
Col. J. H. Patterson, D.S.O. 
My dear Colonel, 

May I request, in the name of the Zionist Com- 
mission, that you have this letter read to the men of 
your battalion at their Seder Service. 

The Commission is glad to be the means of aiding 
them in celebrating our Pesach, the Feast of De- 
liverance, and we trust that it will bring them all 
great joy. We have hopes now that our age-long 
prayers will soon be realized, and it should be a 
source of pride and happiness to them to know that 
they have contributed by their courage and their 
sacrifices toward its fulfilment. The Commission 
speaks in the name of the Zionist Organization in 
expressing to them the thanks of the nation for the 
devoted services they have rendered and are ren- 
dering, in the service of the liberty-loving nation, 
Great Britain, to which they have sworn fidelity, 
and to our people of Israel for whose future glory 
they have been willing to sacrifice their lives. The 
splendid part they have played, and will continue to 
play, will ever be remembered as a bright spot in 
the long history of our ancient people. 
Very cordially yours, 

(Signed) Harry Friedenwald, 
Acting Chairman, Zionist Commission. 



198 With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign 

As Rafa was just over the border of Palestine, and 
therefore in the " Galuth," the Feast had to be kept for 
eight days. Many of the men thought that, as we were 
only a matter of yards from the boundary, I would on 
the eighth day issue leavened bread, which some of them 
were already hankering after, but this I would not hear 
of, and from that day forth I was considered the strictest 
Jew in the battalion ! 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

The Great Boxing Competition. 

THERE was a great deal of unrest and unhealthy 
excitement during demobilization , so to keep the 
troops interested and amused, competitions were got up 
throughout the E.E.F. in Boxing, Football, Cricket, 
and sports of all kinds. 

Soon after we reached Rafa a programme of coming 
sporting events was circulated from G.H.Q. 

Naturally, in a fighting army like the British, the 
greatest interest of all was taken in the Boxing competi- 
tion, and the 38th Royal Fusiliers entered with keenness 
for all events. 

By the terms of the contest teams could be chosen 
from Brigades, or even from Divisions, but, as we be- 
longed to no Brigade or Division, we could only choose 
our men from our own battalion, which was of course a 
considerable handicap. 

However, I considered that this was a grand oppor- 
tunity of proving that men picked from this Jewish Bat- 
talion, if properly trained, would be able to hold their 
own against any team that might be brought against 
them from other units, or brigades, or even divisions, of 
the British Army. 

199 



200 With the Judseans in the Palestine Campaign 

I therefore formed a Sports Committee, collected my 
team of boxers, bought them boxing gloves, punch balls, 
etc., and despatched them with a trainer to El Arish, 
some 30 miles away, on the shores of the Mediterranean. 
There they raced, chased, boxed, bathed, danced, and 
were generally licked into condition by Sergeant 
Goldberg, the boxing^ instructor to the battalion. 

In order to weed out the weaker teams so that only the 
very best should appear at the finals in Cairo, the contest 
was subdivided into four great tournaments : one for 
all the troops in Egypt, another for all the troops in 
Palestine, the third for all the troops in Syria, and the 
fourth for the best team among the Australians and New 
Zealanders. At my inspection of the 38th team, just 
before the tournament, I was much impressed with our 
prospects of success, for the men boxed wonderfully 
well. 

We were all agog with excitement, and I may say with 
hope, when the great day for the Palestine Champion- 
ship arrived and our men stepped inside the ropes at 
Kantara, surrounded by thousands of onlookers. 

There was some splendid fighting, but I cannot go 
into the details of it here. It is sufficient to say 
that we defeated all comers, won five gold medals, and 
emerged as the Champions of Palestine, with the right, 
therefore, of representing it in the great Cairo tourna- 
ment for the Championship of the E . E . F. Could any- 
thing be more fitting? Jewish soldiers as champions of 
Palestine. 

It can be imagined what jubilation there was in camp 
when our team returned to Rafa, and the ringing cheers 



The Great Boxing Competition 201 

which roared out when, at one of our concerts, I pre- 
sented the gold medals to the victors, whose names are 
as follows : — 

Heavy-weight Private Burack'. 

Welter-weight Private Tankinoff. 

Light-weight Private Cohen . 

Feather-weight Private Franks. 

Bantam-weight Private Goldfarb. 

The first round of this essentially British form of sport 
had been fought and won by the despised Jewish 
Battalion ! 

There yet remained the great contest at Cairo, where 
we would have to meet the champions of Egypt, and of 
the Australian forces, and of Syria. 

Real hard training was once more the order of the day 
at El Arish, and I can guarantee that no fitter men than 
ours stepped into the ring at Cairo on that glorious night 
of the 13th March, when the first rounds of the cham- 
pionship were fought in the presence of thousands of 
spectators from all parts. 

Again the Jewish Battalion won practically every 
contest, defeating all its opponents among the British 
Regiments. Eventually, it was left in to fight out the 
final round of the Championship for the whole of the 
E.E.F. with the Australians, who on their side had 
defeated their opponents. 

It was a memorable night (the Ides of March) when 
this final contest took place. Excitement and feeling 
ran very high round the ring, and there was some magni- 
ficent fighting on both sides. In the end it was found 



202 With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign 

that the Jewish Battalion had tied for victory with the 
Australians. 

A decision, however, was given against us, on the 
grounds that we had not entered an officer of the bat- 
talion in the team. As a matter of fact, I had entered an 
officer of the battalion with the teams, but the judge 
(who was a British General, not an Australian) said that 
my team officer was only " attached " to the 38th for 
duty, and therefore could not be claimed as belonging to 
the battalion. Of course practically every officer in the 
battalion was only " attached " for duty, but there — I 
suppose it really would not have been the ' * right thing ' ' 
for one Jewish Battalion to have defeated the whole of 
the Egyptian Expeditionary Force ! 

In football the men were almost equally good, and we 
were good runners-up for the Championship of 
Palestine. 

In cricket also — that essentially English game — the 
battalion acquitted itself most creditably under Captain 
Pope's tuition, defeating all comers in the Bir Salem 
matches, with the exception of the Flying Corps ; while 
our Americans were, of course, unrivalled at base ball, 
at which they were real experts. They often gave ex- 
hibitions of their skill, to the great delight of all those 
who had never before seen the game played. 

Our Concert Party was also still well to the fore, and 
easily took first place in Palestine— its only possible rival 
being that of the 39th Battalion. I had only got to let it 
be known that Tchaikov — our first violinist — would give 
a performance to draw a crowd big enough to pack our 
concert tent four times over. Tn the end a covetous 



The Great Boxing Competition 203 

man succeeded in wheedling Tchaikov away from us. 
Colonel Storrs, the Governor of Jerusalem, begged him 
from me so persuasively that I could not refuse him, 
more especially as it was to Tchaikov's advantage to 
settle in the Holy City, where he took up the post of 
Director of the School of Music. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

BiR Salem — An Exciting Race. 

EARLY in May we were transferred from Rafa to 
Bir Salem. The advance party moved on the 
6th, and on the loth the Battalion Headquarters fol- 
lowed, and took over duties from the 7th Indian Infantry 
Brigade, which was then sent to Haifa. 

We were replaced at Rafa by the 40th (Jewish) Bat- 
talion Royal Fusiliers, which was now composed mainly 
of the Palestinian youths recruited by Major James de 
Rothschild and Lieutenant Lipsey. For a time they 
were commanded by Lieut. -Colonel F. D. Samuel > 
D.S.O., but he left for England while the battalion was 
doing garrison duty at Haifa. 

The command then fell to Colonel Scott, a most con- 
scientious officer, and a man in full sympathy with 
Zionist aspirations. tWhile at Rafa he had a most 
anxious time owing to the unwise action of the military 
authorities. The men of the 40th Battalion had enlisted 
for service in Palestine only, but the local Staff ignored 
this definite contract and ordered part of the battalion to 
Cyprus. As this was a breach of their terms of enlist- 
ment, the men refused to go, and in the end the officials 

had to climb down and cancel all their unjust orders. 

204 



Bir Salem — An Exciting Race 205 

Why did the Staff, when they knew all about this special 
contract for service in Palestine only, drive this excellent 
battalion almost to the verge of mutiny ? There were 
many other battalions available for Cyprus. 

Happily, Colonel Scott brought his men safely 
through the rough time at Rafa, and he served on with 
them until December, 19 19, when the 40th was merged 
in the 38th Battalion. 

All through the early days of May I saw chalked up 
everywhere — on the Railway Station, signal boxes, 
workshops, on the engines, trucks, and carriages — the 
mystic words, " Remember the nth May." 

This was, of course, the date on which all soldiers, 
rightly or wrongly, believed themselves entitled to their 
release, because it was six months after the Armistice 
granted to the Germans on November nth, 19 18. 

I heard it rumoured that there was a conspiracy on 
foot in the E.E.F. for a general mutiny on that day, and 
found that men from other units had endeavoured to 
seduce my battalion from its duty. 

On learning this, I at once determined to nip the 
attempt in the bud, and so made it my business to speak 
to every man in the battalion, and on every isolated post, 
impressing upon them the responsibility which rested on 
their shoulders as Jews, and urging them on no account 
to be led away by the hot-heads in other units. 

I told them that British troops could perhaps afford to 
mutiny, but Jewish troops, while serving England, 
never. 

I am proud to be able to state that not a man of my 
battalion failed on the i ith May, but just " carried on " 



2o6 With the Judseans in the Palestine Campaign 

as usual. Mutinies took place elsewhere, and thousands 
of British soldiers at Kantara ran riot and had the place 
in a blaze. However, the matter was hushed up, con- 
cessions were made, the mutineers were not punished, 
so far as I know, and things gradually became normal 
again. 

Our effective strength when we left Rafa was 15 
officers and i ,300 other ranks. Our duties at Bir Salem, 
Ludd, and Ramleh were exceptionally heavy, the men 
being very often on duty three nights in a week, and 
when they were off guard duties they were immediately 
put on to prisoner of war escorts, etc., as there was a 
very large Turkish and German Prisoners of War Camp 
at Ludd. 

At Bir vSalem we were attached to the 3rd (Lahore) 
Division, under the command of General Hoskin. It is 
a great pleasure to me to be able to state here that this 
officer and his Staff gave us a very hearty and cordial 
welcome to Bir Salem, and did everything possible for 
our comfort and welfare. 

I look upon General Hoskin with his Staff as the 
one bright luminary amidst the gloomy British constella- 
tions among whom we were continually revolving ! 
What an immense difference it makes to the feelings of 
a regiment or a battalion when it is known that the StafiE 
are out to help and assist (as is their proper function), 
instead of to crab and block everything ; in the former 
case one is ready to work the skin off one's bones, while 
in the latter everybody's back is up, with the result that 
co-ordination and fiappy working is impossible. 

This was a happy time for the young lions of Judah. 



Bir Salem — An Exciting Race 207 

for the G.O.C. and his staff were out to help and assist 
in every possible way. iWe were not then aware of all 
the trials and tribulations that awaited us on the de- 
parture of General Hoskins and his excellent staff — 
sahibs to a man. 

The battalion owes a deep debt of gratitude to Mr. 
Jessop, the capable secretary of the Y.M.C.A. in 
Egypt, who supplied us with a magnificent marquee, 
completely furnished with tables, chairs, forms, lamps, 
etc., etc. Only for this gift from the Y.M.C.A. we 
should have been very badly off indeed, for we were 
camped on a sandy waste without huts or any con- 
veniences which other troops in our neighbourhood for- 
tunately possessed. 

It is a fact worthy of note that, although the wealthy 
Jews of Cairo and Alexandria contributed generously to 
the E. E. F. Comforts Fund, not a single article of any 
kind was ever sent to the Jewish Battalion to cheer them 
in their desolate surroundings. We asked for gramo- 
phones, etc., but got nothing — not even a reply ! 

There were compensations, however, at Bir Salem. 
We had many interesting visitors who came to cheer us 
in our camp in the sands, among others the Haham 
Bashi (Grand Rabbi of Jaffa) and the famous Dutch poet 
Dr. de Haan. I remember that the latter took great 
interest in a pet monkey which belonged to one of the 
men of the battalion, but the quaint-looking little animal 
showed little respect for the poet, for she evinced a 
decided desire to leave the print of her teeth in his finger 
as a souvenir of his visit. 

We were always kindly and hospitably received by the 



2o8 With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign 

citizens of Jaffa, headed by Mr. Bezalel Jaffe, and by 
those of Richon-le-Zion, headed by Mr. Gluskin, when 
we visited those colonies. 

While stationed here I spent many a pleasant evening 
chatting with Mr. Aharoni, a well-known naturalist, who 
lives at Rechoboth. There is perhaps no man in all 
Syria and Palestine with such a wide knowledge of the 
flora and fauna of those countries, and he gave me many 
interesting accounts of his adventures among the 
Bedouins while in quest of specimens for various 
European museums. 

When the Great War broke out he had secured two 
live ostrich chicks, new to science, and these he had 
hoped to send alive to England. However, when the 
pinch for food came there was none for the ostriches, so 
they had to be killed ; they were stufEed, and may now 
be seen at Lord Rothschild's famous museum at Tring 
Park, Hertfordshire- This story of the ostrich 
chicks was related to me by Mr. Aharoni while I was 
celebrating with him the " Feast of Tabernacles," 
under the shade of " boughs of goodly trees, branches 
of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows 
of the brook," and we did greatly rejoice, for the Feast 
was a goodly one, and the pottage of Gevereth Aharoni 
was such as my soul loved. 

About this time many military Race Meetings were 
organized in different parts of Palestine, Syria, and 
Egypt, and officers were encouraged to take part in them 
and get the men interested in the sport, so as to take 
their thoughts away from the absorbing topic of de- 
mobilization. 



Bir Salem — An Exciting Race 209 

On the 5th June a Race Meeting was held at Surafend, 
a few miles from Bir Salem, and as we were all expected 
to support the programme, I entered my charger Betty 
for one of the events. 

Betty was a beautiful dark-brown creature, but some- 
what skittish and wayward, Tike many of her sex. I 
knew her little ways and how to humour her to perfection, 
and she always gave me of her best. More than once 
she managed to slip her fastenings in the horse lines, 
and used her freedom to gallop off to my tent, where 
she would thrust her head through the doorway ; then, 
apparently satisfied, she would fly back to her place in 
the lines. 

She appeared at times to see something not visible to 
the human eye, because, now and again, when cantering 
quickly along, for no apparent reason she would sud- 
denly bound aside as if the Devil himself had scared her 
out of her wits. 

The 3rd Lahore Division had at this time on its Staff 
an able and energetic sportsman, Major Pott, of the 
Indian Cavalry ; this officer provided an excellent pro- 
gramme and ran the meeting without a hitch. 

It was a lovely sunny afternoon, and thousands of 
people flocked to the course, soldiers from the camps 
round about, civilians from Jerusalem, Jaffa, and the 
surrounding colonies ; the Arabs and Bedouins also sent 
a very strong contingent. 

In the race for which I had entered Betty (I called 
her Betty in memory of another Betty, also beautiful and 
with a turn of speed !) a full score of horses went to the 
post, and I, unfortunately, drew the outside place. I 



210 With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign 

therefore felt that unless I got well away at the start, 
and secured sufficient lead to enable me to cross to the 
inside, I would have but a poor chance of winning, for, 
about half-way down the course, there was a tremendous 
bend to negotiate. I was lucky enough to jump away 
in front, and, soon finding myself well ahead, swerved 
across to the inside, where I hugged the rails. For 
three parts of the way round Betty made the running, 
but soon after we came into the straight for home I eased 
her a bit and was passed by Major Pott, who was riding 
a well-known mare, also, strange to say, called Betty. 
At the distance the Major was quite a length ahead of 
me, but I felt that there was still plenty of go in my 
Betty, so I called upon the game little mare to show her 
mettle. Gradually she forged herself forward until there 
was but a head between them, and for the last dozen 
strides the two Bettys raced forward dead level amid 
the frantic roars of the crowd, all shouting, " Go on. 
Betty ! Go on, Betty ! " We both rode for all we 
were worth, my Betty straining every nerve to defeat 
her namesake, and finally, amid terrific cheering, by the 
shortest of heads, Betty won — ^but, alas, it was the other 
Betty ! 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

Damascus. 

TOWARDS the end of June I took part in the 
military races at Alexandria, and from the ' ' home 
town " of Hypatia I took ship and went to Beyrout — a 
lovely seaport, nestling under the mighty and magnificent 
Lebanon. Here I was most hospitably entertained by 
my friends, the Bustroses. From the balcony of her 
palatial residence Madame Bustros enjoys a view second 
to none in the world, and every imaginable fruit and 
flower grows and blooms on her estate. Beyrout is un- 
doubtedly a place of milk and honey, and is unques- 
tionably within the Biblical boundaries of the Promised 
Land. Ezekiel xlvii., 17, states : " and the border from 
the sea shall be Hazar-enan, the border of Damascus 
and the north northward and the border of Hamath." 
This was the northern boundary assigned to Israel and 
was actually occupied in the days of David and Solomon. 
My journey across the Lebanon was one long feast of 
the most beautiful scenery in the world. As we topped 
the range my last peep of mountain and valley, stretch- 
ing away down to Beyrout, hemmed in by the glittering 
sea, was like a vision of Paradise. 

211 02 



212 With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign 

Instead of going to Damascus direct, I branched off 
at Ryak and ran up the Bakaa, the valley which stretches 
between Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon to Baalbek, where 
I spent a wonderful time amid the mighty ruins of that 
ancient temple to Baal. 

Baalbek is the most beautiful and impressive ruin that 
it has ever been my good fortune to look upon. Thebes 
may exceed it in size, but the wonder of Egypt had not 
the effect upon me that was produced when I stood under 
the magnificent columns of this great temple to the 
heathen god. 

I wandered through the vast pile, an insignificant 
speck amidst its gigantic pillars and fallen lintels, over- 
thrown and shattered by the devastating earthquake 
which centuries ago wrecked this mighty structure. Who 
were the architects who designed it ? and who were the 
engineers who set on high those stupendous blocks? 
Verily there were giants in those days. 

At Baalbek railway station I came across one of the 
prettiest girls 1 had seen for many a long day engaged 
in selling peaches. She was a Syrian from Lebanon, 
which is noted for the beauty of its maidens ; I overheard 
her companions address this Houri of the mountains as 
" Edeen." While I was standing waiting for my train 
to arrive a dust storm suddenly sprang up, and when 
it was over Edeen sat down and calmly licked the dust 
off every peach until they all bloomed again in her 
basket ; then presently she presented the fruit, fresh and 
shining, to the incoming passengers, who eagerly 
bought it from the smiling damsel ! I need hardly 
say that peaches were " off " for me during the rest 



Damascus 213 

of my trip, for not all sellers were as beautiful as 
Edeen ! 

A few hours in the train took me over the Anti- 
Lebanon, and I caught my first glimpse of Damascus, 
that most ancient of cities, which I had long desired to 
see. 

When Mohammed was a camel driver, making a 
caravan journey from Medina to Aleppo, the story goes 
that he once camped on a hill overlooking Damascus. 
His companions asked him to join them and go into the 
city but he replied — ' ' No ; Paradise should only be 
entered after death ! ' ' 

I viewed the city from the same spot, but, not being 
so sure of my hereafter as was the Prophet, I decided 
to take my chance of entering this earthly Paradise while 
it offered. 

It is rightly described as a pearl set in emeralds. 
White mosques, minarets, and cupolas peep dazzlingly 
in all directions out of the emerald foliage. Trees, 
gardens, and flowers of all kinds abound in this delectable 
city, whose charm is enhanced by the murmur of the 
many rivers running through it. I, too, like Naaman 
the Syrian, found " Abana and Pharpar, rivers of 
Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel." The 
latter is in the district, and runs some ten miles to the 
south of the oldest city in the world. The great Saladin 
is buried in Damascus, and of course I made a pil- 
grimage to the tomb of this famous warrior. 

I like to avoid the caravanserais set up for Europeans 
as much as possible when travelling in the East, so that 
I may see something of the life of the people. In this 



214 With the Judseans in the Palestine Campaign 

way one has many pleasant little adventures , experiences 
and remembrances, which give zest to life. 

While lunching at a famous Arab restaurant I made 
the acquaintance of Dr. Yuseff, a well-known medical 
man of Damascus and Beyrout ; among other subjects 
we talked horses and races, and we became such good 
friends that he lent me his fiery, pure-bred Arab steed to 
ride while sight-seeing in the neighbourhood — a sure 
token of friendship from this cultured Arab of Syria. 

Just on the outskirts of the city on the banks of the 
river Barada (the Biblical Abana) I had noticed a 
Bedouin camp crowded with good-looking horses, so 
thither I went and called on the Sheik of the tribe. 
While sitting with the elders in a huge circle, sipping 
coffee out of tiny cups, I discovered from their conversa- 
tion that my hosts were wandering Kurds, who were just 
about to set off for the confines of Persia. I hinted that 
I would like to join their caravan, and was immediately 
given a warm welcome, but, much as I should have liked 
to roam the desert with them, I had to think of my 
Jewish Battalion waiting for me at Bir Salem. The 
Kurds expressed much interest when I told them I had 
to go on a pilgrimage to El Kuds (meaning Jerusalem), 
for of course they were good Moslems and reverenced 
the Holy City. 

On leaving Damascus T travelled down the Hedjaz 
Railway as far as Deraa. The moment the ancient 
Syrian capital is left the train enters the desert, the home 
of the Ishmaelite. These bold rovers, from time im- 
memorial, have hunted and harried the peaceful traveller 
caught toiling through their fastnesses. We were not 



Damascus 



215 



molested for the simple reason that troops of cavalry, 
British and Indian, were posted at strategic points all 
along the railway. A few months later, when we with- 
drew from these parts, the Bedouins began their old 
games, and took a fierce joy in derailing trains, and rob- 
bing, and even killing, the passengers. In this way a 
good friend of mine, Comandante Bianchini, an officer 
of the Royal Italian Navy, met his untimely end at the 
hands of these desert marauders. Bianchini was deeply 
interested m, and worked hard for, the Zionist cause, and 
his loss is a sad blow to his many friends. A more 
cheery, lovable man never sailed the seas. 

iWe reached Deraa (the ancient Edrei) without in- 
cident, and then branched off westward to Haifa, the 
train clambering down and around the precipitous sides 
of the Yarmuk Escarpment, past the southern shore of 
the Lake of Galilee at Samakh, across the Jordan and 
running parallel to it for some miles, then curving up- 
wards out of the Jordan Valley, into the valley of Jezreel, 
which continues into the plain of Esdraelon. 

These narrow plains, the heritage of Issachar, sever 
the head of Palestine from the body, or, in other words, 
separate Galilee from Samaria and Judaea. To use an 
Irishism, this neck had been the " Achilles' heel " of 
Israel throughout her history. All down the ages armies 
from Babylonia, Assyria, Persia, and Egypt have 
marched and counter-marched through this fertile belt. 
Open passes southward made Samaria an easy prey. 
Beisan (the ancient Bethshan), which guards the eastern 
end and dominates the passage over the Jordan, was 
generally in the hands of the stranger. It was in the 



21 6 With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign 

neighbourhood of this famous old stronghold that Barak 
defeated Sisera, captain of the host of Jaban, king of the 
Canaanites — a victory celebrated in the famous song of 
Deborah. It was also in this neighbourhood that 
Gideon smote the Midianites. His motto, ' ' The sword 
of the Lord and of Gideon," was also the motto of the 
Zionists who served England so stoutly in Gallipoli, and 
it was a curious coincidence that, just as the Midianites 
were routed by the shouting and clamour of Gideon's 
three companies, so was the Turkish Army routed by 
the Zion mules when, with rattling chains and clattering 
hoofs, they stampeded one dark night and galloped 
through the Turks as they were creeping stealthily up to 
attack the British trenches. 

Later on in the military history of the Israelites we 
find the Philistines battling for the supremacy on these 
plains and overthrowing the army of Israel under their 
first King Saul, who, in the bitterness of defeat, and 
finding he could not escape, fell on his sword and died on 
Mount Gilboa. In the same battle and the same place 
the death of Jonathan put an end to his immortal friend- 
ship with David and called forth the famous lament : 
" The beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high places ; 
how are the mighty fallen." 

These stories of the Old Testament flashed vividly 
through my mind as we rolled onward through this 
historic valley between Mount Gilboa and Beisan on the 
left, and the cone-shaped Mount Tabor away on the 
right. 

Other countries and other scenes were recalled to my 
mind when I spied half a dozen beautiful antelope near 



Damascus 217 

some standing corn, and my thoughts of Africa were 
further intensified when I caught a glimpse, on the rail- 
way bank, of a huge black snake, some six feet long, 
rapidly darting away out of danger. 

Soon afterwards, on looking to the north, I saw 
Nazareth perched upon a southern Galilean hill-top. We 
wound in and out by the brook Kishon, where Elijah 
smote the false prophets. Finally we passed along the 
mighty shoulder of Mount Carmel into that great natural 
anchorage of Haifa, nestling under its shadow ; then 
southward to Ludd and Bir Salem — the whole train 
journey from Damascus taking some fifteen hours and 
giving me an unrivalled feast of Biblical landscapes. 

Early in July I visited Acre to take part in the races 
there (which proved a fiasco owing to the antics of the 
starter) , and suddenly found myself close to the dwelling 
of the famous Abdul Baha, the exponent of the doctrine 
of the Brotherhood of Man. He certainly has a wide 
field before him, for at the present moment there seems 
to be very little brotherly love in any part of the world ! 
His particular mission is to unite the peoples of the earth, 
and do away with all barriers of race, creed, and 
prejudice. 

Since Patriarchs, Popes, Archbishops, Mullahs, and 
ministers of all creeds have failed to make humanity 
realise the necessity of "brotherly love," the League 
of Nations would be well advised to adopt the Sage of 
Acre and make him President of a " League of 
Teachers," pledged to inculcate love for one's fellow- 
men as the cardinal feature of his curriculum. One thing 
is certain — the League of Nations will never bring the 



21 8 With the Judseans in the Palestine Campaign 

world into harmony unless the young are taught to love 
and help their brothers, irrespective of nationality. 

It will be remembered that Acre was the town to which 
Napoleon laid siege after his wonderful march from 
Egypt with about 10,000 French Infantry. This extra- 
ordinary man was able to cross the Sinai desert with his 
army, without either roads, railway, or water supply, 
capture Gaza, Jaffa, and Haifa with ease, and only for 
the British Fleet would undoubtedly have added Acre, 
and probably all Syria, to his spoils. 

Those who have traversed the Sinai sands in a com- 
fortable railway coach can afford to pay a warm tribute 
to this redoubtable warrior, and to the no less redoubtable 
Infantry of France. 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

Among THE Philistines. 

WHEN General Hoskin left BIr Salem to take up 
a command in England he was replaced by 
Maijor-General Sir John Shea, under whom we had 
served for a short time in the line. If this officer had 
not been called elsewhere, I am quite sure that the 
regrettable incidents which I shall have to relate would 
never have taken place ; but, unfortunately, General 
Shea was away practically all the time we were attached 
to his Division, and a senior Brigadier acted in his 
place. 

This Brigadier was apparently well aware of the anti- 
Jewish attitude taken up by certain members of the 
G.H.Q. Staff, and trimmed his sails accordingly, but. 
unfortunately for himself, as the sequel will show, his 
zeal to second their ill-advised efforts carried him to such 
lengths that even those influential members whose 
policy he was supporting were unable to save him from 
the consequences of his own outrageous folly. 

No sooner had we come under his command than his 

anti-Semitic bias became apparent. Certain areas were 

placed out of bounds to ' * Jewish soldiers ' ' but not to 

2x9 



220 With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign 

men in other battalions. Jewish soldiers were so 
molested by the Military Police that the only way they 
could enjoy a peaceful walk outside camp limits was 
by removing their Fusilier badges and substituting 
others which they kept conveniently in their pockets 
for the purpose. They found that by adopting this 
method they were never interfered with by the Military 
Police. 

Traditional British fair play seemed to have taken 
wings as soon as General Z. appeared on the scene. I 
repeatedly made official complaints about the way the 
men were persecuted, but nothing was done to mend 
matters. As a British officer I felt ashamed to hold 
my head up in my own camp owing to the unfair 
and un-English treatment to which the men were 
subjected. 

It may well be imagined that this attitude of the Staff 
made my command anything but an easy one. In the 
first place, knowing how all ranks were discriminated 
against, no officer or man wished to remain in the bat- 
talion. It was exceedingly difficult under the circum- 
stances to get the best out of the men. While we were 
with the Anzacs, although we suffered exceedingly from 
the deadly climate in the desolate Jordan Valley, yet 
we were all thoroughly happy, because we were 
treated with justice and sympathy by the Staff 
and by all other ranks in that famous division. At Bir 
Salem, on the contrary, we were anything but a happy 
unit. 

It will be remembered that before we left Rafa the 
battalion had been swamped by about 800 recruits. 



Among the Philistines 221 



Physically they were a very fine lot, but, being young 
and hailing from the United States, they were a bit wild 
and difficult to handle. The moment they joined the 
battalion they had to do real hard soldiering, and were 
put on outposts and detachments up and down the 
country, guarding thousands of prisoners of war, long 
stretches of railway line, millions of pounds worth of 
munitions, food, ordnance supplies, etc. In fact, so 
arduous were these duties that the men had scarcely 
more than every alternate night in bed, although it is 
the rule in the army that whenever possible every 
man should be allowed at least three consecutive nights* 
rest. 

The great majority of my old trained men of the 38th 
had by this time either been demobilised, invalided to 
England, or employed on special duties between Cairo 
and Aleppo, so that a great part of the heavy duties 
which had to be carried out fell on the American recruits. 
There was absolutely no time to train these men, and 
I consider it was really wonderful that they did so well 
under the circumstances. 

I know of no more heart-breaking task for a Com- 
manding Officer than to endeavour to keep a battalion 
in a high state of discipline when he is surrounded by 
a hostile staff, apparently all out to irritate and humiliate 
both officers and men. From " reveille " to " lights 
out ' ' it was a case of countering the actions of those in 
authority which constantly tended to create discontent 
and ill-feeling in our ranks. 

I may mention that I had scores of protests from the 
men, often daily, owing to the persecution to which they 



222 With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign 

were subjected while we were at Bir Salem. Is it to 
be wondered at that, suffering all these things, some of 
the American volunteers at last became restive and asked 
themselves, " Why should we serve England and be 
treated like dogs ? ' ' 

I often felt it necessary to speak to the men, for I 
knew that their loyalty was strained almost to breaking- 
point. At such moments I told them that the honour 
of Jewry rested on their shoulders, and no matter what 
provocation they might be subjected to, they must at 
all times remain steadfast. The Imperial Government 
in England was sound and sympathetic to their ideals, 
and eventually justice must prevail, and the evil days 
through which we were passing would soon come to 
an end. I appealed to them as Jews to be good soldiers, 
and, to their credit, they always responded. 

Before this persecution became acute volunteers were 
called for to serve with the Army of Occupation in 
Palestine. Several hundred American enthusiasts in 
the battalion offered their services, but owing to the 
treatment they received their enthusiasm died out, and 
they requested that they should be demobilized and 
repatriated. A small party of these American citizens 
who were on outpost duty at Belah, some sixty miles 
to the south of Bir Salem, sent in a signed memorial 
requesting demobilization ; otherwise they stated that 
they would refuse to do duty after a certain date which 
was mentioned. This document I , of course, forwarded 
to Divisional Headquarters. 

I had been writing to the authorities for months, re- 
questing that these men should be demobilized and 



Among the Philistines 223 

sent back to the United States, and at last I heard, 
unofficially, that the order for repatriation was on 
its way. 

I sent my adjutant to inform the Belah men that 
their release was coming through in the course of a few 
days, and to tell them to carry on meanwhile like good 
soldiers. 

More than half of the men responded, but the rest, 
being young and untrained, refused to perform any 
further soldierly duties after the expiry of the time limit ; 
they just remained quietly in their tents, for they wished 
to bring matters to a head. 

I am glad to say that the Jewish soldiers, both 
Americans and British, serving with me at Bir Salem, 
stood firm and carried out their duties as usual. 

After personal investigation into the conduct of these 
foolish youths at Belah I remanded them for trial by 
Field General Court Martial, and forwarded the charge 
sheets, with summaries of evidence, to General Z. I 
had framed the charge sheets most carefully, but 
apparently my drafting did not suit the General, for he 
framed fresh charges of mutiny, and sent his A.D.C. 
with them to me for immediate signature. I had but 
a moment to scan the charge sheets, for the A.D.C. 
was impatient to catch a train which was due to leave. 
I did not like the General's drafting, but, being a very 
obedient soldier, I duly signed the documents as ordered 
and handed them back to the waiting Staff officer, 
wishing him luck with them as he galloped off. 

According to King's Regulations, a soldier remanded 
for trial by Court Martial has the right to request the 



224 With the Judseans in the Palestine Campaign 

help of an officer to act as his friend at the trial, and, of 
course, it is the bounden duty of such officer to do every- 
thing in his power to get the accused acquitted. The 
Belah men petitioned Lieutenant Jabotinsky to act as 
their advocate, and he, somewhat unwillingly, assented 
to undertake the ungrateful task. He was not anxious 
to defend these men of Belah because he held that they 
should have carried out their duties faithfully to the end, 
even although they felt that they had a grievance against 
authority. 

The trial took place at Kantara, and, in the course of 
it. Lieutenant Jabotinsky pointed out a fatal flaw in the 
charge sheets, with the result that the charge of mutiny 
failed, and the Court had to be dissolved. The President 
(who belonged to Major-General Louis Jean Bols' late 
Regiment) was furious at the fiasco, and said, " This is 
all the fault of Colonel Patterson, and I shall report 
him." My adjutant, Captain Sandison, a staunch 
and sturdy Scot, was present in Court as Prosecutor, 
and, knowing all the facts of the case, at once turned 
on the President and said, " You have no right. 
Sir, to make such a statement about my Commanding 
Officer. The G.O.C. Division rejected his charge 
sheets, which were in perfect order, and framed 
the faulty ones himself, so now you know whom to 
report." 

A new Court had to be convened, Sut the men were 
now arraigned merely on the lesser charge of disobeying 
an order. Even on this lesser charge they were 
savagely sentenced to various terms of penal servitude, 
ranging from seven years downwards. Had they been 



Among the Philistines 225 

found guilty by the first Court on the charge of mutiny 
I presume they would all have been shot ! 

I am confident that if these young Americans had 
been properly trained as soldiers, this Belah incident 
would never have taken place. I had given the 
authorities ample warning of what was likely to happen 
when these recruits were thrust upon me, but my advice 
was iornored. 

o 

All I can say is that if an Australian, English, Irish, 
or a Scottish battalion had been treated as this Jewish 
battalion was treated, Divisional Headquarters would 
have gone up in flames and the General himself would 
have been lucky to escape. 

Be it noted that the mutineers of other British units, 
the men who had openly defied all authority and set 
Kantara in a blaze, were not even put on trial ! 

Until the recruits were forcibly thrust upon me, I can 
vouch for it that the 38th Battalion Royal Fusiliers was 
one of the most exemplary units that ever took the field, 
crime being practically unknown. The men endured 
hard marching, hard knocks, fatiguing manual labour, 
at times scanty rations of food and water, the seething 
heat of the Jordan Valley and the anti-Semitism of the 
local military authorities, and withal gained the highest 
praise from the General Officer Commanding under 
whom they served in the field . 

Notwithstanding the fact that we were so despitefully 
used, the authorities found that the men's services were 
invaluable. In addition to garrisoning large areas of 
Palestine, I had officers, N.C.O.s, and men, holding 
all kinds of important posts throughout the E.E.F., 

p 



226 With the Judseans in the Palestine Campaign 

from Aleppo to Cairo. The demand for men from the 
38th Battalion was ever on the increase, for executive 
officers found the Jewish soldier steady, sober and 
reliable, three qualities, the importance of which I was 
always impressing on the men, although, as a matter of 
fact, sobriety is one of the outstanding virtues of the 
Jewish soldier. 



CHAPTER XXX. 

Thp: Fall of Goliath. 

THE violent anti-Semitism shown by General Z at 
last reached such a pitch that on one occasion (the 
1 6th July to be exact), he rode into camp and, without 
the slightest provocation, abused and insulted the men, 
threatened one of them, and actually went so far as to 
strike an unoffending private soldier with his whip, using 
at the same time language which would make Billings- 
gate blush. 

I was not present at this outrage, but I heard a full 
account of all that happened from various eye-witnesses 
who reported the affair, and all I could imagine was that 
the General must have suddenly gone insane. 

The whole battalion was in an uproar, and I had much 
ado to pacify the men and keep things going. 

The man who was struck was sent to Hospital with 
a swollen arm, and the other men who were specifically 
insulted reported to me at the orderly room and com- 
plained of the treatment they had received. I for- 
warded their complaint to General Z, together with the 
sick report of the man he had struck with his whip. He 
replied requesting me to have these particular men 
paraded so that he might speak to them. 

I arranged for this embarrassing interview, and, to 

227 P2 



228 With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign 

prevent any hostility which the outraged battalion might 
have shown towards General Z when he entered the 
camp, I kept the men in their tents, with N.C.O.s in 
charge of each door, with instructions to see that no un- 
toward incident took place. 

On arrival the General apologised to the insulted men, 
but so indignant were they that at first they refused to 
accept it, or to shake hands when he offered to do so. 
Finally, after over half-an-hour's persuasion, they 
agreed to accept his apology, provided it was given pub- 
licity, and also to the whole battalion on parade. This 
he did very fully, and I sincerely hoped that the incident 
was happily ended, and that for the future, in dealing 
with us. General Z would see that no injustice was done 
merely because we were Jews. 

To compensate for all the misfortunes we were called 
upon to endure, our life in the battalion itself was quite 
smooth and happy, all pulling well together. 

Personally, I took no thought whether a man was a 
Jew or a Gentile ; I remember that an officer joined us 
while we were serving at the front, and, through some 
misunderstanding, I took him to be a Jewish officer. 
He distinguished himself later and earned the M.C., 
which pleased me very much, for I was always glad 
when I was able to recommend a Jewish officer for pro- 
motion or reward. I sent this officer with nine others to 
form a " Minyan " (the number required to hold a 
Jewish religious service) at the burial of a Jewish soldier 
who was killed on the day we captured the Umm esh 
Shert Ford, and it was not until after this incident hap- 
pened that I discovered he was a Gentile. 



The Fall of Goliath 229 

There was one exception, however, to the general 
harmony and esprit de corps of the battalion. A Staff 
officer was sent to do duty with us from G.H.Q., where 
he had been employed for over a year. Some time after 
his arrival he publicly insulted one of my Jewish officers 
and refused to apologise. The matter was then brought 
before me, and, as he still remained obdurate, I brought 
him before General Z. When asked by the latter why 
he had insulted the Jewish officer his reply was, " I 
don't like Jews. The Jews are not liked at G.H.Q., 
and you know it. Sir." The General ordered him to 
apologise, which I must say he did most handsomely, 
but his remarks about the dislike of Jews at G.H.Q., 
though no news to me or the General, may be some- 
what illuminating to the reader ! 

Although we hoped that all unpleasantness with the 
General was over, 1 regret to say that this was not the 
case. I could give many instances of unfair treatment 
to which we were subjected, but I will not weary the 
reader by relating them here. After his apology the 
General never again came near us, and every indignity, 
slight and petty tyranny that could be invented was put 
upon the battalion . The whole subsequent attitude of the 
G.O.C. showed us that his apology was merely eye- 
wash, and had simply been extracted from him by fear 
of the consequences of his outrageous behaviour. 

In fact, in the end, I had to bring his conduct to the 
notice of the Commander-in-Chief, with the result that 
he was removed from his Command and no longer 
troubled Israel. 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

Protests. 

IN case any readers may think that my account is 
exaggerated I give some letters of protest which 
I received from some of the officers in my battalion. 
From this it will be seen what a difficult position I was 
placed in, owing to the policy of G.H.Q. towards Jewish 
aspirations. 

A few interested parties, for their own ends, sedu- 
lously spread the rumour that there was no anti-Semi- 
tism shown in Palestine. I will leave the reader to judge 
whether these people were knaves or fools : 

LuDD, 

4-7-19. 
A7/48. 
Sir, 

I beg to report that the men are discontented^ 
not only in our battalion, but also in the other 
Jewish units, which cannot fail to influence our men 
still more. 

The causes of their discontent are much deeper 

than delay of Demobilization. Over 3/7ths of the 

230 



Protests 231 

Judaeans in this country are men who volunteered 
to serve in Palestine in the name of their Zionist 
ideals, and in reply to the pledge embodied in 
the declaration which Mr. Balfour, on behalf of 
H.M. Government, issued on the 2nd November, 
1917. 

It is now a general impression among our 
soldiers, an impression shared by the public opinion 
of Palestine, that this pledge has been broken, so 
far as local authorities are concerned. 

Palestine has become the theatre of an undis- 
guised anti-Semitic policy. Elementary equality 
of rights is denied the Jewish inhabitants ; the Holy 
City, where the Jews are by far the largest com- 
munity, has been handed over to a militantly anti- 
Semitic municipality ; violence against Jews is 
tolerated, and whole districts are closed to them by 
threats of such violence under the very eyes of the 
authorities ; high officials, guilty of acts which any 
Court would qualify as instigation to anti- Jewish 
pogroms, not only go unpunished, but retain their 
official positions. The Hebrew language is officially 
disregarded and humiliated ; anti-Semitism and 
anti-Zionism is the fashionable attitude among 
officials who take their cue from superior authority ; 
and honest attempts to come to an agreement with 
Arabs are being frustated by such means as penalis- 
ing those Arab notables who betray pro- Jewish* 
feeling. 

The Jewish soldier is treated as an outcast. The 
hard and honest work of our battalions is recom- 



232 With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign 

pensed by scorn and slander, which, starting from 
centres of high authority, have now reached the 
rank and file, and envenomed the relations between 
Jewish and English soldiers. When there is a 
danger of anti- Jewish excesses, Jewish soldiers are 
removed from the threatened areas and employed 
on fatigues, and not even granted the right to 
defend their own flesh and blood. 

Passover was selected to insult their deepest 
religious feelings, by barring them access to the 
Wailing Wall during that week. No Jewish de- 
tachment is allowed to be stationed in Jerusalem or 
any of the other Holy Cities of Jewry. 

When a J ewish sentry is attacked and beaten by 
a dozen drunken soldiers, and a drunken officer 
disarms with ignominy a Jewish guard, nobody is 
punished. Leave to certain towns has become a 
torture because the Military Police have been 
specially instructed to hunt the Jew, and the 
weaker ones among our men escape this humiliation 
by concealing their regimental badge, and substi- 
tuting the badge of some other unit. 

In addition, army pledges given to them are also 
disregarded ; men who were recruited for service 
in Palestine are sent against their will to Messina 
or Egypt or Cyprus ; men who enlisted under the 
understanding that their pay would be equal to 
that of any British soldier suddenly discover that 
no allowances will be paid to their wives and 
children. 



Protests 233 

Under these conditions, even some of the best 
among them give way to despair ; they see no pur- 
pose in carrying on, conscious that the great pledge 
has been broken, that instead of a National Home 
for the Jewish people, Palestine has become the 
field of operations of official anti-Semitism ; they 
abhor the idea of covering with their tacit conniv- 
ance what they — and not they alone — consider a 
fraud. 

They cannot formulate these grievances in full, 
nor gather the documents necessary to prove them, 
but under their desire to ' ' get out of the show 
there is bitter disappointment, one of the most 
cruel even in Jewish history. 

You, Sir, have always been in favour of speeding 
up their demobilization; I, as you know, was of 
the opinion that it is the duty of every volunteer to 
stick to the Jewish Regiment as long as circum- 
stances might demand, and I still hope that many 
will stick to it in spite of all. But even I myself 
am compelled to admit that things have reached 
a stage when no further moral sacrifice can 
fairly be demanded of men whose faith has been 
shattered. 

I only hope that those who give up the struggle 
will not follow the example of a few misguided irre- 
sponsibles who chose the wrong way to support a 
right claim. I hope that they will await their 
release in a calm and dignified manner, discharg- 
ing their duties to the last moment, and thus giving 



234 With the Judseans in the Palestine Campaign 

those who misrule this country a lesson in fair play 
— a lesson badly needed. 

I remain, Sir, 
Your obedient Servant, 

XX. 

To Lieutenant-Colonel J. H. Patterson, 
D.S.O., Commanding 3 8th Battalion 
Royal Fusiliers. 



BiR Salem, 

17-7-1919. 
To Officer Commanding 

38TH Royal Fusiliers. 
Sir, 

I have the honour to request that this application 
praying that I may be permitted to resign my Com- 
mission in His Majesty's Forces be forwarded 
through the usual channels, together with the 
undermentioned reasons for my taking this step 
after having originally volunteered for the Army of 
Occupation. 

My resignation. Sir, is my only method of pro- 
test against the grossly unfair and all too prevalent 
discrimination against the battalion to which I have 
the honour to belong. I desire to point out to 
you, Sir, the fact that this unfair and un-British 
attitude affects not only my honour as a Jew, but 
my prestige as a British officer, and this latter point 
must inevitably handicap me in the efficient dis- 
charge of my military duties. 



Protests 235 

The disgraceful exhibition of yesterday morning 
is but a fitting climax to the endless series of insults 
and annoyances to which this battalion — ^because it 
is a Jewish Battalion — has been subjected, almost 
since our first arrival in the E.E.F. Insults to a 
battalion as a whole, Sir, are insults directed to 
every individual member of that battalion, and as 
long as I remain a member of His Majesty's 
Forces, I regret to say I find myself unable to 
fittingly resent in a manner compatible with my own 
honour, and the honour of my race, the insulting 
attitude towards my race, and through my race, to- 
wards me, of my military superiors. 

In passing, may I point out that my being a Jew 
did not prevent me doing my duty in France, in 
Flanders, and in Palestine, and in the name of the 
countless dead of my race who fell doing their duty 
in every theatre of war, I resent, and resent very 
strongly indeed, the abusive attitude at present 
prevalent towards Jewish troops. 

I have innumerable instances of petty spite, and 
not a few cases of a very serious character indeed, 
all of which I can readily produce should the 
occasion ever arise. 

I have the honour to be. Sir, 

Your obedient Servant, 
Y.Y. 

It was not only my Jewish officers who found life un- 
bearable under these conditions, but the other officers 
also felt the strain. 



236 With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign 

I received the following letter from one of my senior 
Christian Officers after an outburst on the part of the 
Staff: 

To the O.C. 

3 8th Battalion Royal Fusiliers. 

Sir, 

I have the honour to request that I be im- 
mediately relieved of my duties and permitted to 
proceed to England for demobilization. I am 40 
years of age, and have had nothing except my desire 
to do my duty to keep me in the Service. The 
impossible conditions forced on the battalion by 
higher authority are too much for me, and I very 
much regret that I should have to trouble you with 
this application at the present time. 

I have the honour to be. Sir, 

Your obedient Servant, 

SS. 
BiR Salem, 

24TH August, 19 19. 

Letters such as these give some slight conception of 
the extremely difficult position in which I was placed. 
On the one hand I had to ward off the blows aimed at the 
battalion by the local military authorities, while on the 
other hand I had to do my utmost to allay the angry feel- 
ings of my officers, N.C.O.s, and men, goaded almost to 
desperation by the attitude adopted towards the battalion. 

This anti-Jewish policy was directed not only against 
the Jewish Battalions, but also, in a flagrant manner. 



Protests 237 

against the Jewish civil population, upon whom every 
indignity was poured ; in fact, the British Military Ad- 
ministration made of the famous Balfour Declaration — 
the declared policy of the British Government — a by- 
word and a laughing stock. 

Early in 1919 the Chief Administrator then in office 
in Palestine, the man who represented the British 
Government, offered a public insult to the Jews at a 
Jewish Concert, by deliberately sitting down and 
ordering his staff to do the same when the Hatikvah, 
the Jewish national hymn, was being sung, while, of 
course, all others were standing. This was as deliberate 
an insult as could be offered to the feelings of any people. 
England must be in a bad way when a man such as this 
is appointed to represent her as Governor. 

Judge Brandies, of the United States Supreme Court, 
visited Palestine about the time when these anti- Jewish 
manifestations were at their height, and was shocked 
and horrified at the un-English attitude he saw adopted 
towards the Jews and all things Jewish. 

I myself told him of the mockery of the Balfour 
Declaration as exemplified by the British Military Ad- 
ministration m Palestine, and said I thought it was a pity 
that Mr. Balfour had not added three more words to 
his famous utterance. The Judge asked me what words 
I meant, and I said they were that Palestine was to be a 
national home for " the baiting of " the Jewish people ! 

I know that Judge Brandies v/ent home hurriedly, 
very much perturbed at what he heard and saw, which 
was so contrary in everything to the spirit of the declared 
policy of England. He represented the state of affairs 



238 With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign 

in Palestine to Downing Street, with the result that the 
local military authorities were told that the policy as laid 
down in the Balfour Declaration must be carried out. 

This was a sad blow to those purblind ones who had 
looked forward to a long rule in the Middle East ; for 
them the writing was already on the wall. 

I want it to be clearly understood that this attitude was 
merely the policy of the local military officials who, by 
their attitude, were practically defying and deriding the 
policy of England, as expressed by the Home Govern- 
ment. 



CHAPTER XXXII. 

A Trip to the Sea of Galilee. 

I HAD long looked forward to a visit to the Sea of 
Galilee (Lake Tiberias), and eventually, late in 
October, my ambition was fulfilled, for, taking advan- 
tage of " Damascus week," when leave was easy to 
get, I slipped off from Ludd one morning at 8.30, and 
arrived at Samakh, on the southern shores of the sea, 
at 2 o'clock in the afternoon. 

My first peep of the Lake, as it stretched out before 
me and melted away in the purple haze to the north, was 
delightful. The colouring was superb and, as I sat on 
the edge of the rickety pier, I drank in my novel sur- 
roundings with all the enthusiasms of a rapturous 
pilgrim. 

The Lake glistened and glinted in the brilliant sun- 
shine, the abrupt arid-looking hill-sides deepened the 
silent mystery that seemed to hang over it. Away to 
the right was the spot where the Gadarene swine, pos- 
sessed of the evil spirit, rushed down to the sea and 
destroyed themselves. 

Peering through my glasses straight north, I could 
see in the shimmering distance the dense groves of ever- 
greens which told me that this was the place where the 

239 



240 With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign 

Jordan plunged down from "the waters of Merom " 
through a rocky gorge, and entered the Lake. Away 
to the left I caught a glimpse of a few trees and houses, 
and I realized that I was looking at Capernaum, the 
place in which it will be remembered the worthy Roman 
Centurion built a synagogue. Glancing further west, 
and somewhat nearer to me, I saw the site of Bethsaida ; 
sweeping further westward and yet nearer, the round 
towers and rectangular walls of Tiberias itself stood 
revealed, while close to my left hand, at the south -w^est 
corner of the Lake, the thriving Jewish colony of 
Kinnereth overlooked the spot where the Jordan rushed 
out of the Lake on its way to the Dead Sea. 

Round about me were children revelling in the limpid 
water, and even a few discreetly-veiled damsels displayed 
a fair share of their neat limbs, while paddling along the 
sandy shore in the shade of the cliffs. 

Suddenly, into all this old-world scenery, there dashed 
a lively motor-boat, which had come from Tiberias to 
collect passengers. We scrambled down from the crazy 
pier, and within an hour found ourselves climbing up 
the rickety gangway leading to Tiberias, a city which 
stands to-day much as King Herod Antipas, the 
builder, left it, although, in the meantime, it has been 
much devastated by earthquakes. 

I was agreeably surprised to find a clean and fairly 
comfortable hotel, most capably managed by Frau 
Grossmann. It was still hot at Tiberias, and yet, by 
some mysterious means, Frau Grossmann always 
managed to produce a bottle of cold beer for dinner, a 
most grateful drink in this thirsty valley. 



A Trip to the Sea of Galilee 241 

In the early morning, I hired a boat with a good- 
humoured Arab crew of three, and made an expedition 
across to Capernaum. Fish are still as plentiful here 
as they were in the days of Simon Peter, and the 
Capernaum fishermen still cast their nets as they did in 
apostolic times, and wear just as little clothing. 

As I wandered among the ruins, I met a striking 
Franciscan, Father Vendelene, who was hospitality 
itself. He was a venerable German, a very fine-looking 
man, standing over six feet high, full of Christian charity, 
and apparently resigned to the blow which had fallen 
upon his nation. Besides being a monk he was also an 
architect and had built many monasteries, convents, and 
churches for the Franciscans in many parts of the world ; 
but he had been a soldier before he became a monk, 
and I noticed, as he smoked a pipe and related to me 
his varied career, that his eyes glowed, and his broad 
shoulders were thrown back, as he described how he 
charged at the head of his squadron of Hussars in one 
of the battles of the Franco- Prussian War. The good 
Father took me round what was left of the synagogue 
built by the worthy Centurion whose servant was 
healed. It must have been a fine piece of architecture 
in its day, and it is a thousand pities that it has been 
levelled to the ground by an earthquake. 

On my return to the hotel I found that two Nursing 
Sisters had arrived from Egypt to spend a few days at 
Tiberias, and at dinner I suggested that they should join 
me in my boat on a voyage of discovery which I intended 
to make across the Lake on the following mornings and 
to this they readily agreed. 

Q 



242 With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign 

The Military Governor of Tiberias had very kindly 
arranged for a mounted escort and a horse to be ready 
for me at the north end of the Lake where the Jordan 
enters it, as I wished to make an exploring expedition as 
far as possible up the river towards Lake Merom. 

We left Tiberias at dawn and had a most delightful 
trip across the Lake, breakfasting in the boat on the way. 
Sister Cook, who was blessed with a charming voice, 
was moved to song, and the time passed so pleasantly 
that before we knew where we were, we found our- 
selves stuck on a sandbar in the Jordan River itself. 
Our boatmen hopped out, pushed the boat over the bar 
into deep water, and off we paddled again up the famous 
river. Great fields of ripe maize stretched away on 
either hand, and it was curious to see dusky youths 
perched aloft on stagings, armed with a sling, doing 
slaughter among any birds that dared to settle on their 
crops. We shoved the nose of our boat into the bank, 
took a stroll along a path through the tangled under- 
growth, and soon met a crowd of Bedouins who pre- 
sented us with some delicious maize cobs. In this 
manner we pleasantly meandered up the Jordan, now 
landing on this bank, and now on that, as it took our 
fancy, until at last a point was reached where the river 
was so shallow that the boat could go no further, and 
here I found my pony and escort awaiting me. 

The latter was composed of local mounted Arab gen- 
darmerie, under the command of a Jewish corporal, who 
had at one time served in the 40th Battalion Royal 
Fusiliers, and I noticed with pleasure that the Jew and 
the Arabs seemed to be on excellent terms. 



A Trip to the Sea of Galilee 243 

I charged the boatman to take the Sisters to Caper- 
naum, where I told them to call on Father Vendelene, 
who I knew would give them a warm welcome. 

Having seen the boat safely started on the way, and 
with strict injunctions to the sailors to return for me in 
good time, I mounted my pony and started my explora- 
tion of the Upper Jordan. 

My escort (who were also supposed to be guides) 
often got completely lost in the dense oleander jungle 
that here abounds, but after many trials and tribulations, 
in the course of which I came upon a submerged herd 
of buffalo sleeping peacefully in a marshy backwater, I 
emerged torn and bleeding at the entrance of the black 
rocky gorge down which the Jordan rushes. Riding 
here became impossible, so I went on foot until the 
westering sun warned me it was time to return. 

On the way back, which was by another and much 
easier route, we came across a stalwart Bedouin hunter 
who, only five days before, had shot a splendid leopard 
on the hillside. 

I asked him if there was any chance of my being able 
to do likewise. He replied that it was possible, but I 
might have to wait a month before I got a shot ; I could, 
however, have other good hunting any day I liked, for 
the thickets were alive with wild boar. This man knew 
every track round about, and, as we were still shut in 
by dense thickets, he volunteered to come with me as 
a guide to the Lake. On parting he refused all offers 
of money, but later I sent him some tobacco, which I 
hope he received safely. My escort, when we reached 
open level country, raced and chased each other on their 



244 With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign 

ponies, pulling up suddenly, or darting to the right or 
left in wild career. Both rode thoroughbred Arab mares 
and were immensely proud of their steeds, and their own 
prowess thereon. 

On reaching the Lake, I espied the boat coming 
along, and as the water was shallow I urged my mount 
into it and rode out to meet the little vessel. The Arab 
boatmen, singing some quaint chorus, came alongside 
and I slipped off the saddle on to the gunwale, waved 
good-bye to my friends of the gendarmerie, and headed 
the boat for Capernaum to pick up the Sisters. Here 
I found that they had had a great time. Just as they 
were in the midst of a mild flirtation with Father Vende- 
lene, who was showing them round his demesne, who 
should walk in but the Papal Legate, Cardinal Filippo 
Giustini, just arrived from Rome on a tour of inspection ! 
The good cardinal was not horrified, however, for he 
insisted on the ladies coming into the Refectory, where 
he himself poured them out a cup of tea. 

On the way back from Capernaum we hugged the 
west coast of the Lake and made a call at Migdal, an 
up-to-date Jewish fruit farm on the site of the ancient 
Magdala, the birthplace of that romantic figure in the 
New Testament, Mary Magdalene. Unfortunately, 
the manager, Mr. Glickin, was away, but his represent- 
ative gave us a delightful tea in the open, under the 
shade of an enormous fig tree. Here fruits and flowers 
of all kinds were showered upon us, oranges, pome- 
granates, bananas, nuts, almonds, etc., all of the most 
delicious flavour. Our boatmen had much ado in carry- 
ing all our gifts down to the shore. 



A Trip to the Sea of Galilee 245 

We then skirted the Lake, and when nearing Tiberias 
saw the caves where the famous Jewish philosopher 
Maimonides, and the two famous Rabbis, Meir and Ben 
Akiba, are buried. 

Not very far from Tiberias is the pit of Joseph, which 
old Arabian geographers maintain is the identical one 
into which the favourite son of Jacob was cast. 

Darkness was now swiftly coming on and, as we 
neared Tiberias, in the twinkling of an eye, a sudden 
squall burst upon us, and we were glad to reach the 
little haven in safety. 

Altogether it had been a very full day and the Sisters 
assured me that they would look upon it as one of the 
red-letter days of their lives. 

Before leaving the Sea of Galilee, I made an excur- 
sion to the wonderful hot sulphur baths, about three 
miles to the south of Tiberias, and saw the boiling water 
gushing out of the cleft in a rock. There is a bath- 
house close by where people afflicted with rheumatism 
dip in these medicinal waters and are made whole again. 
On the way back from these springs I passed through 
the ruins of the old city of Tiberias, with its columns all 
awry and prostrate, and mounds of debris covering a 
considerable extent. On a hill, just above the modern 
Tiberias, stand the ruins of Herod's Palace, and I there 
saw what is reputed to be the chamber where Herodias' 
daughter danced for the head of John the Baptist. 

In enterprising hands, Tiberias could be made to 
flourish exceedingly as a winter resort. There one can 
have excellent boating, fishing, boar-hunting, explora- 
tions on horseback through the exceedingly interesting 



246 With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign 

country which surrounds it, and at the same time cure all 
one's ills in the wonderful hot baths. 

Beautiful Palestinian lace is made in this old Hebrew 
city by industrious Jewish girls, and I brought away 
some very fine examples of their work. 

There is an old synagogue near the Hot Springs 
where the celebrated Rabbi Meir expounded the law 
to Israel. 

Before I left Galilee I met my old friend. Captain 
Trumpeldor, who had served under me in the Zion Mule 
Corps in Gallipoli. I was delighted to see this gallant 
officer once more, and we had a long chat over old times. 
Trumpeldor had only just returned from Russia, where 
he had been organizing a Jewish Legion for service in 
Palestine. The Bolsheviks, however, interfered with 
his plans, and he was lucky to escape from their clutches. 
Sad to relate, a few months after our meeting in Galilee, 
Captain Trumpeldor met his death there, while defend- 
ing a Jewish Colony from a raiding party of Bedouins. 
He directed the defence for two hours after he had been 
mortally wounded, and then died, fighting to the last. 
He was one of the most gallant men I have ever met, 
and his loss is keenly felt by all his friends and comrades. 

The Sea of Galilee is bound to have an enormous 
influence on the economic life of Palestine. Here we 
have stored up practically an unlimited supply of latent 
energy. This great mass of water is situated some 700 
feet above the level of the Dead Sea, into which its 
overflow, the Jordan runs. 

A canal constructed from the south-west corner of 
Lake Tiberias, and graded along the Jordan Valley, 



A Trip to the Sea of Galilee 247 

would, in the length of a few miles, give a vertical fall 
of over 300 feet. A suitable hydro-electric plant 
erected at the site of the falls would produce enough 
energy to revolutionise every phase of life in the Holy 
Land. 

It must be remembered that so far neither coal nor 
oil have been found in the country, while forests do not 
exist ; consequently the cost of all kinds of fuel is very 
high, and industrial undertakings, where cheap power 
is a factor, are out of the question. 

What a Heaven-sent boon then is this stored-up 
energy of the blessed Jordan. Cheap light, heat, and 
power can be had from it throughout the length and 
breadth of Palestine. Touch a switch in summer and a 
whirling fan will keep one's house delightfully cool, while 
in the winter electrical fires will provide warmth in the 
chilly evenings on the hill-tops. Evil smelling paraffin 
lamps and stoves will be a thing of the past, for, of 
course, electricity will provide all that is necessary in 
the way of fuel and light. 

Ample power is available for the electrification of the 
existing railways, and, of course, light tramways could 
be operated all over the country. 

Great areas of land now lying fallow could be irrigated 
and made fruitful and capable of sustaining a large 
population. 

If Palestine is to become a home for any large number 
of the Jewish people, this great source of economic life 
must be turned to account, and all the land blessed by the 
amazing benefits which electricity can shower upon it. 

Jewish brains, Jewish capital, and Jewish workers 



248 With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign 

will undoubtedly carry out this scheme, and gradually 
the country, which is now arid and neglected, will be 
turned once more into a land flowing with milk and 
honey. The hills will again be terraced and crowned 
with fig and olive trees, and the valleys and plains will 
abound with ripening corn. 

The country which for hundreds of years has been at 
a standstill, lends itself to all kinds of industrial enter- 
prises, such as fruit-farming, olive oil and soap factories, 
fishing and canning, etc. 

The trade and commerce that will flow through Pales- 
tine is not to be measured by the paltry revenue returns 
now shown. When the country is developed, the old 
trade routes with the hinterland reopened, and the ports 
at Haifa and Jaffa improved, its importance, commer- 
cially, will be enhanced beyond all recognition. 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

Strange Methods of the E.E.F. Staff. 

IT will be remembered that Lieutenant Jabotinsky 
was responsible for the idea of forming a Jewish 
Legion to help England in her great struggle for world 
freedom. 

The British Government was impressed with the 
possibilities he placed before it, and eventually he was 
summoned to the War Office by Lord Derby, then 
Secretary of State for War, and to the War Cabinet by 
General Smuts, to expound his proposals. These high 
officials did not disdain to meet and confer with Jabotin- 
sky on the Jewish Legion question, although at that 
time he was merely a private soldier, serving in the 20th 
Battalion of the London Regiment. They knew that 
he held a very high place in the Zionist movement, and 
was looked up to by the Jewish masses the world over 
as one of its most brilliant young leaders. 

This fact was also known to the Staff of the E.E.F., 
but when, as an officer, in August, 19 19, Lieutenant 
Jabotinsky sought an interview with the Commander- 
in-Chief, hoping that he might induce the local authori- 
ties to change their anti- Jewish policy in Palestine, he 
was not only refused a hearing, but methods were im- 

249 R 



250 With the Judseans in the Palestine Campaign 

mediately employed to strike him down which I can 
only describe as despicable and un-English. 

Jabotinsky was, of course, pro-British to the core. 
During his service in Palestine he had been for a time 
specially attached to the Zionist Commission with the 
sanction of the Commander-in-Chief. While he was 
employed in this capacity he brought about the accept- 
ance of a programme by the Jewish Colonists, expressly 
calling for a British Mandate for Palestine. 

All through his military service with the Battalion 
he, to my personal knowledge, did his utmost to allay 
the feelings of resentment felt by the Jewish soldiers 
at the bad treatment they received at the hands of the 
military authorities, treatment utterly undeserved and 
uncalled for, but apparently deliberately adopted to 
further what appeared to be the local policy of making 
the practical application of the Balfour Declaration an 
impossibility. 

Hostility to all things Jewish was so open, that only 
those who wilfully shut their eyes could fail to see the 
game that was being played by certain interested parties. 
Jabotinsky saw that the line of action adopted must in- 
evitably lead to outbreaks against the Jews, and 
naturally wanted to ward off such a calamity. 

Do not let the reader imagine that there was bad blood 
between the Palestinian Arabs and the Zionists. That 
both had dwelt together in unity and concord for over 
forty years is proof to the contrary. 

The anti- Jewish outbreak, which actually took place 
later on, was carefully fostered, and the hooligan element 
amongst the Arabs openly encouraged to acts of violence 



Strange Methods of the E.E.F. Staff 251 

by certain individuals who, for their own ends, hoped 
to shatter the age-long aspirations of the Jewish people. 

There can be no doubt that it was assumed in some 
quarters that when trouble, which had been deliberately- 
encouraged, arose, the Home Government, embar- 
rassed by a thousand difficulties at its doors, would agree 
with the wire-pullers in Palestine, and say to the Jewish 
people that the carrying out of the Balfour Declaration, 
owing to the hostility displayed by the Arabs, was out- 
side the range of practical politics. 

To these schemers it must have been somewhat 
galling, to say the least of it, to find certain men openly 
fighting them, foot by foot, and inch by inch, for the 
realisation of the ideals expressed in the famous 
Declaration. 

One of these men was Jabotinsky, a man with a 
notable name in Jewry, therefore a thrust at him would 
also be a blow to Jewish prestige in Palestine. He was 
a mere foreigner, a Jew from Russia, and presumably 
without influential friends — a man, surely, on whom 
officialdom could safely pour out the vials of its unjust 
wrath, without any fear of evil consequences to itself. 

At all events, contemptible methods were adopted in 
order to strike at the man who had dared to let the 
authorities know that their local policy was a menace to 
his people dwelling in the Holy Land, and a serious 
danger to the Restoration. 

When Jabotinsky saw that certain members of the 
Staff were adopting measures towards Jewish soldiers, 
and Jewish ideals in Palestine, which must inevitably 
result in disaster, and being loth to believe that the 

R2 



252 With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign 

Commander-in-Chief could be privy to such a policy, he 
addressed the following letter to General AUenby. 

Sir, 

I was the initiator of both the Zion Mule Corps 
and the actual Jewish Battalions. To-day I am 
forced to witness how my work is breaking into 
pieces under the intolerable burden of disappoint- 
ment, despair, broken pledges, and anti-Semitism, 
permeating the whole administrative and military 
atmosphere, the hopelessness of all effort and of all 
devotion. 

The common opinion is that you are an enemy 
of Zionism in general, and of the Jewish Legion in 
particular. I still try to believe that this is not 
true, that things happen without your knowledge, 
that there is a misunderstanding, and that the 
situation can yet improve. 

In this hope, as the last attempt to stop a process 
which threatens to impair for ever Anglo- Jewish 
friendship throughout the world, I beg you to grant 
me a personal interview and permission to speak 
freely. This letter is entrusted to your chivalry. 

(Signed) V. Jabotinsky. 

I knew nothing whatever about the despatch of this 
letter, and although ! am aware that red tape will hold 
up its hands in holy horror at the audacity of it, it must 
be remembered that Jabotinsky's position was an ex- 
ceptional one. He was not a British subject, and not 
used to the routine of British red tape. Members of the 



strange Methods of the E.E.F. Staff 253 

British Imperial War Cabinet thought it good policy to 
hear his views, and, no doubt, when he entrusted this 
letter to the chivalry of General Allenby, he felt confident 
that if he was making any deviation from ordinary 
routine, it was for a good purpose and would not be 
counted against him. 

It is an open, straightforward, honest letter, a heart- 
felt cry from a man who sees that the whole structure 
which he has been at such pains to build is in serious 
peril of being overthrown by the machinations of the 
anti- Jewish people on the Staff. 

And now a curious thing happened. It was known 
to the Staff that Jabotinsky was at the time staying in 
Jaffa, and that he was to be found almost daily at the 
house of a friend who was living there. About a week 
after he had sent his letter to the Commander-in-Chief, 
a Staff-Major from G.H.Q., E.E.F., appeared in 
Jaffa and took up his quarters in the same house as 
that in which Jabotinsky 's friend dwelt. When the 
inevitable meeting took place, the Staff-Major, who, by 
the way, knew Jabotinsky well, remarked that the 
Commander-in-Chief had received his (Jabotinsky's) 
letter, and would probably send for him one of these 
days, but that, in the meantime, it would be well if 
Jabotinsky stated his grievances then and there to him- 
self. " You can speak to me openly as to a friend," 
said the Major. " I have some influence at G.H.Q., 
and I shall be glad to assist in righting any wrong done 
to Jews." 

On hearing this, Jabotinsky unhesitatingly explained 
the situation, both as to its effects on the Regiment and 



254 With the JudaBans in the Palestine Campaign 

on Jewish aspirations in Palestine. The result of this 
friendly conversation ' ' was a mendacious report 
written by the Staff-Major to the Deputy Adjutant- 
General at G.H.Q., E.E.F. 

Sometime afterwards, by a mere chance, I saw a copy 
of this report, and so far as it referred to Jabotinsky, it 
was practically untrue from beginning to end. 

If the responsible authorities at G.H.Q. knew of the 
method adopted to lure Jabotinsky into the " friendly 
conversation ' ' which served as a pretext for a gross libel 
on his character, it reminds one of the good old days when 
Governments had recourse to " Agents provocateurs." 
What G.H.Q. certainly should have known was that the 
accusations levelled at Jabotinsky b)?" a member of their 
Staff were absolutely untrue. They knew him to be a 
good and gallant officer who had done his duty, and much 
more than his duty, faithfully and well to England, but 
it would appear as if they were greedy for such a docu- 
ment and swallowed it with avidity without any reference 
to me or, so far as I know, to anybody else. 

I think that even the most prejudiced of my readers 
will admit that in fairness and justice to Jabotinsky this 
secret report should have been submitted to him for 
his information, and such explanation and refutation 
as he could give, before any action was taken against 
him. 

It is strictly laid down in the King's Regulations that 
all adverse reports must be shown to the officer whose 
reputation is affected, but, as I have shown over and over 
again, the Staff of the E.E.F. were apparently a law 
unto themselves and above even King's Regulations ! 



strange Methods of the E.E.F. Staff 255 

I knew nothing whatever of all that had been going 
on ; I knew nothing of Jabotinsky's letter to the Com- 
mander-in-Chief ; I knew nothing of his interview 
with the Staff-Major from G.H.Q., and, needless to 
say, I knew nothing of the report which the latter had 
written. 

My first inkling of the situation was through an official 
letter emanating from the Deputy Adjutant-General, 
which stated that * ' the Commander-in-Chief has his 
own duly constituted advisers on matters of policy and 
is not prepared to grant an interview to a Lieutenant of 
the 38th Battalion Royal Fusiliers to discuss such 
matters." 

From this moment G.H.Q. lost no time in getting 
rid of Jabotinsky. On the 29th August, 19 19, I re- 
ceived an urgent order to send this officer to Kantara 
for immediate demobilization. This took me by sur- 
prise, for I was very short of Jewish Officers, and stood 
much in need of Jabotinsky's services in the Battalion. 

I wrote and protested against his demobilization, 
stating that I needed his services, but the only result was 
the receipt of the following peremptory memorandum : 

A direct order was conveyed for Lieutenant 
Jabotinsky to proceed to Demobilization Camp, 
Kantara, forthwith. If he has not already gone, 
this officer will leave for Kantara by rail to-day. 
Non-compliance with this order will lead to dis- 
ciplinary action being taken. Please report 
departure." 

The above was signed by a Staff Officer. 



256 With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign 

As a result of this piece of Prussianism, Jabotinsky 
had to proceed to Kantara, where at lightning speed he 
was demobilised. 

He wrote a protest to the Army Council, which I 
forwarded with my own views on the case. The appeal 
was a lengthy one, but I will merely quote the following 
passage : 

With the deepest reluctance and regret I must 
say that I consider this action shows ingratitude. I 
do not deserve it at the hands of the British 
Authorities. From the first days of this War I 
have worked and struggled for British interests. I 
am neither a British subject nor an immigrant. 
I had never been in the United Kingdom or in any 
British Dominion before this War. I came to 
England in 191 5 as a Russian Journalist, corre- 
spondent of the oldest Liberal paper in Russia, the 
Moscow Wiedomosti. As a correspondent I did my 
best to explain to the Russian public the British 
effort and to combat the anti- British propaganda. 
At the same time I started on my own initiative a 
pro-Entente and pro-British propaganda amongst 
neutral and Russian Jewry. At that time many 
Jews bitterly resented England's alliance with 
Russia. In the autumn, 191 5, I founded a Yid- 
dish fortnightly (Di Tribune) in Copenhagen, 
which took up a strong anti-German and anti- 
Turkish attitude. Its articles were constantly 
quoted in the American Jewish Press, and found 
their way even into Germany and Austria. Here 



Strange Methods of the E.E.F. Stafif 257 

• again I have the right to say that I was one of the 
few — perhaps one of the two men (counting Dr. 
Weizmann first) — responsible for the origin of the 
present pro- British attitude of all Jewry. I may 
add that I did all this at my own expense, or with 
means provided by my Zionist friends, without any 
support from any British source. 

Against this I know of no facts which could justify 
the attitude taken upbyG.H.Q.,E.E.F. I have 
never heard of any complaint or censure of my con- 
duct as Officer or Man ; I have never been informed 
or even given a hint that anything in my activity 
could be objected to. 

My compulsory Demobilization under these con- 
ditions will throw a slur on my name. I consider 
it unjust. I request that it be annulled, and that 
I be reinstated in my well-earned position as an 
Officer of the Judaeans." 

A reply to this appeal was never received, and I do 
not know whether it ever reached the Army Council. 

Thus came about the victimization of Jabotinsky, the 
man who had done so much for England in her hour of 
need ; who had over and over again in the firing line 
shown that he was prepared to make even the last great 
sacrifice itself in the cause for which England was fight- 
ing. As a reward for all his devotion to England he 
was, by strange and un-English devices, practically 
drummed out of the Army. 

I think my readers will agree with me that the scan- 
dalous course of action pursued by the Staff of the 



258 With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign 

E.E.F. in the case of Lieutenant Jabotinsky would, if 
it became popular in high places, soon bring our country 
to ruin and rob us of our fair name. 

We know what the corrupt Bureaucrats have done for 
the once mighty Russian Empire. Had fair play and 
justice held sway there we would never have beheld the 
present orgy of Bolshevism which is sweeping through 
that unhappy country. 

Let all kings, princes, rulers and governors remember 
that to "do justice and ensue it " makes the stoutest 
barrier against Bolshevism, for, as it says in Ecclesiastes, 
" oppression maketh a wise man mad." 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 

The First Jud^eans. 

NOTHING but a sense of the duty which I owed 
to my officers and men induced me to continue 
serving in such a hostile atmosphere after the armistice 
had been declared. 

We suffered, but we suffered in silence, and just 
" carried on." 

In the midst of our tribulations we, however, scored 
a decided triumph, for the year-old decision of the War 
Office was at last announced by the local Staff that we 
had won a special name, viz., the Judaeans, and that 
H.M. the King had sanctioned the Menorah as a special 
badge for the Battalion. 

The withholding of this information from us for a full 
year could not have been an oversight, for I had 
repeatedly written to ask if the War Office had not 
sanctioned this name and badge for the Battalion, but 
received no reply. I can only presume that the object 
of G.H Q. in withholding this information, which would 
have brought prestige to the Jews, was that they had 
hoped to get the Battalion disbanded and abolished so 
that it might never have the gratification of knowing that 
the Imperial Authorities considered that the Jewish 

259 



26o With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign 

Battalion had distinguished itself, and was therefore 
entitled to the special name and badge promised in 191 7 
by Lord Derby when Secretary of State for War. 

Just after we had received this good news, I was 
gladdened by receiving from the Council of Jews at 
Jerusalem a beautifully illuminated parchment scroll, 
thanking me for the stand I had made in upholding the 
ideals expressed in the Balfour Declaration, and for 
having led the Jewish Battalions successfully in the great 
struggle which resulted in the " Crown of Victory." 

Yet one more triumph was in store for the ist 
Judaeans, for, in the beginning of December, 1919, 
orders came from the War Office that it was to be re- 
tained to garrison Palestine, and that the 39th and 40th 
Battalions were to be amalgamated with it. 

It was a great satisfaction to me to learn that it was 
to be retained, for a time at least, as a unit of the British 
Army, and that it was to be officially known as the 
First Judaeans Battalion. 

I now felt that my work was done and I could chant 
my " Nunc Dimittis." I had seen my child weather 
the storms which had beaten so fiercely about it, and in 
the end specially chosen to garrison its own Home Land. 

A permanent force of Judaeans in Palestine is an 
essentially sound measure from every point of view. 

World Jewry would, I am sure, be willing to take the 
entire cost of the maintenance of this Force on its own 
shoulders ; the money spent on it would be well invested, 
for it would be the training centre of Palestinian volun- 
teers. Such a training would instil a sense of responsi- 
bility, and enable young Jewry the more readily to follow 



The First Judaeans 261 

steadfastly in the simple but sublime footsteps of their 
heroic forefathers. 

As soon as I got back to England, I had an interview 
with the Adjutant-General at the War Office, and re- 
quested that the savage sentences passed on the young 
Americans at Belah should be revised. Although the 
Adjutant-General was most sympathetic, he could not, 
at the moment, see his way to interfere, so I then wrote 
to the Prime Minister to let him know that these 
American soldiers had been very harshly treated and 
were still imprisoned in the Citadel at Cairo. I pointed 
out that it was hardly sound policy to offend a powerful 
ally by inflicting such a barbarous sentence on men who 
had come over the seas as volunteers to help us in the 
Great War. I therefore begged him to have their case 
investigated. 

The result of this letter was that the men were speedily 
released and went back to their homes in the United 
States. 



CHAPTER XXXV. 

The Jerusalem Pogrom. 

SHORTLY after my return to England events 
occurred in Palestine which prove up to the hilt 
all that I have written with regard to the anti- Jewish 
attitude of certain members of the E.E.F. Staff. 

A veritable ' ' pogrom, ' ' such as we have hitherto only 
associated with Tsarist Russia, took place in the Holy 
City of Jerusalem in April, 1920, and as this was the 
climax to the maladministration of the Military Authori- 
ties, I consider that the facts of the case should be made 
public. 

To the observant onlooker it was quite evident that 
the hostile policy pursued by the Administration must 
inevitably lead to outbreaks against the Jews. An in- 
telligent people, such as the Arabs, could not be blind 
to the anti- Jewish course being steered. 

The Balfour Declaration, that divinely inspired 
message to the people of Israel, was never allowed to be 
officially published within the borders of Palestine ; the 
Hebrew language was proscribed ; there was open dis- 
crimination against the Jews ; the Jewish Regiment was 

at all times kept in the background and treated as a 

262 



The Jerusalem Pogrom 263 

pariah. This official attitude was interpreted by the 
hooligan element and interested schemers in the only- 
possible way, viz., that the military authorities in Pales- 
tine were against the Jews and Zionism, and the con- 
viction began to grow, in some native minds at least, that 
any act calculated to deal a death blow to Zionist aspira- 
tions would not be unwelcome to those in authority In 
the Holy Land. 

Moreover, this malign influence was sometimes 
strengthened by very plain speaking. The Military 
Governor of an important town was actually heard to 
declare In a Y.M.C.A. Hut, in the presence of British 
and French Officers, and of Arab waiters, that in case 
of anti -Jewish riots in his city, he would remove the 
garrison and take up his position at a window, where he 
could watch, and laugh at, what went on ! 

This amazing declaration was reported to the Acting 
Chief Administrator, and the Acting Chief Political 
Officer, but no action was taken against the Gover- 
nor. Only one Interpretation can be placed on such 
leniency. 

In March, 1920, the following extraordinary order 
was Issued to the troops in Palestine : — * ' As the 
Government has to pursue in Palestine a policy unpopu- 
lar with the majority of the population, trouble may be 
expected to arise between the Jews and the Arabs." 
This wording Is very significant. It was obviously cal- 
culated to throw the blame for any trouble on the Jews, 
at the same time representing the Government as an 
unfortunate victim, who, under some mysterious pres- 
sure, " has to pursue " a Zionist policy. 



264 With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign 

The moment I heard that a certain officer was to be 
appointed to an important post in Palestine I felt it my 
duty to warn the Chief Zionist leader of the evil that 
would follow such an appointment, and told him that in 
the interests not only of Jewry, but of England, it was 
necessary that he should make a public protest against 
the appointment of this official. Although I warned 
Dr. Weizmann of the dangers that would follow, he was 
loth to believe that a British Officer would be disloyal to 
the policy laid down by his Government. The good 
Doctor had not suffered with the Jewish Battalion and 
did not realize the situation or the intrigues that were 
in the air. So far as I am aware, no protest was made 
and this official was duly appointed. I feared for the 
future, not so much on account of the Jews, as on 
account of the harm that would be done to the prestige 
and good name of England, and the result will show 
that my fears were only too well grounded. 

Within a few months of this appointment, public anti- 
Zionist demonstrations were permitted throughout the 
land. These manifestations took the form of proces- 
sions through the streets with drums beating and banners 
flying, the chanting of fanatical verses against the Jews 
being a feature of these displays. In Jaffa inflammatory 
speeches were delivered from the steps of the Military 
Governor's office, in the presence of British officials, 
calling for the extermination of Zionism. 

Arab papers were allowed to write the most out- 
rageous articles against the Jews, while on the other 
hand, if a Jewish paper dared to say the least word of 
protest, it was immediately called to account. 



The Jerusalem Pogrom 265 

With these significant happenings taking place before 
their eyes, and feeling that they would get little or no 
protection from the Military Administration, the Jews 
clearly saw that it was absolutely essential for their own 
safety to form a Self- Defence Corps, for purely protec- 
tive purposes. This they did, and Lieutenant Jabotin- 
sky was entrusted with the command. This officer, 
with the full knowledge of the Administration, enrolled 
a body of young men and trained them in case of 
need. 

His first act on taking command was to inform the 
Authorities of the Corps' existence, its arming, and its 
purpose. He even asked the Government for weapons, 
reminding them that rifles and ammunition had been 
issued to Jewish Colonists in Galilee under similar cir- 
cumstances. It must be remembered that the Jewish 
people in Palestine never gave the Authorities a 
moment's anxiety ; on the contrary, they were most law- 
abiding citizens, who helped the British Administration 
in every conceivable way. They were astounded and 
mystified by the hostility displayed towards them by the 
local Military Administration, and it is not too much to 
say that they went in fear of their lives, for the hooligan 
element in the Arab quarter began to declare openly that 
they would slaughter them. 

The day when an outbreak on the part of the cut- 
throats was expected was Friday, 2nd April, for on that 
date the celebrated " Nebi Musa " procession was to 
take place. Moslems from all parts of Palestine meet 
once a year for prayer at the Mosque of Omar (built 
on the site of Solomon's temple), and then form a 

s 



266 With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign 

procession to the Tomb of Moses in the Jordan Valley, 
near the Dead Sea. The Moslem world holds Moses 
in great veneration as a Prophet, and believes that when 
he died on Mount Nebo, a Bedoum carried his body- 
across the Jordan and buried it at the shrine now known 
as Nebi Musa, which is annually visited by thousands of 
Moslem pilgrims. 

The day dreaded by the Jews passed without incident, 
but in the light of what took place a couple of days later, 
I am inclined to think that this desirable result was 
achieved, not so much by the precautions taken by the 
Administration, as by those taken by the Jewish Self- 
Defence Corps, which was known to be held in readiness 
for all eventualities on that day. 

On Sunday, 4th April, a belated crowd of pilgrims 
from Hebron approached the Holy City by the Jaffa 
Gate. Fanatical agitators posted themselves on the 
balcony of the Municipality Building and, for the space 
of two hours, delivered brutally inflammatory speeches 
against the Jews to this mob, in the presence of British 
officials who understood Arabic. It must be remem- 
bered that these pilgrims were armed, and yet no 
attempt was made to suppress the agitators, although 
there was ample police and military strength available 
in the neighbourhood. 

Immediately after the inflammatory speeches, acts of 
violence began. 

I reproduce here extracts from a couple of letters which 
I received, giving graphic descriptions of the outbreak 
by eye-witnesses, one of them a Senior British Officer, 
not a Jew : 



The Jerusalem Pogrom 267 



Palestine, 

^ lOTH April, 1920. 

My dear Colonel, 

We are passing through terrible and unprece- 
dented times. Who could ever have thought that 
a pogrom " a la Russe," with all its horrors, could 
take place in Jerusalem under British rule ! Who 
could ever have conceived that it should be possible, 
in the Holy City of Jerusalem, that for three days 
Jews, old and young, women and children could 
be slaughtered ; that rape should be perpetrated, 
Synagogues burnt, scrolls of the Law defiled, and 
property plundered right and left, under the banner 

of England ! 

The anti-Jewish feeling of the Administration 
here you, of course, know all about, as you have 
experienced it yourself, but latterly the notorious 
Syria Genuha (an Arab daily in Jerusalem) 
printed day after day inflammatory articles agamst 

the Jews. ... 

Anti- Jewish demonstrations were allowed to take 
place and inflammatory speeches were allowed to 
be made against the Jews, The evil men amongst 
the Arabs openly declared that they would 
slaughter the Jews at the Festival of Nebi Musa. 
The Government was warned by the Jewish press, 
and by Jewish responsible leaders, but these were 
not listened to, and, as a matter of fact, the Feast 
was proclaimed with great pomp. Lord Allenby 
and Major-General Louis Jean Bols, the Chief 
Administrator, being present. . . • 

(Signed) XX. 



S2 



268 With th© Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign 

Palestine, 

I iTH April, 1920. 
My dear Colonel, 

. with my wife I went up to Jerusalem to 
spend the Easter week-end, and a very nice week- 
end it surely was ! Long before this letter reaches 
you, you will have learned somethino- of the hap- 
penings in the Holy Citv, but as my wife and I saw 
the first blow struck, and had very personal ex- 
perience of the immediately ensuing bother, you 
may be interested. 

The happenings here have raised all sorts of 
questions, and while for the moment the trouble is 
over, I fear the end is not yet. 

On the morning of Easter Sunday we were 
standing on the balcony of the New Grand Hotel 
watching the progress of an Arab procession just 
arrived from Hebron. As the procession reached 
the entrance to the Jaffa Gate it just had the 
appearance of the usual show of this kind — a bit 
noisy, but apparently well-behaved. It was 
escorted by two officers of the Military Administra- 
tion and a few of the Arab police. All at once the 
members of the procession formed themselves into 
a square, just inside the g'ate, and the first thing 
we saw then was an old Jew, about 70 years of age, 
get his head split open with an Arab's sword, and 
as soon as he was down he was stoned ; within a 
few minutes a lot more Jews got like treatment. 
By this time the crowd was well out of hand and 
rushed quickly into the old City looting and killing, 



The Jerusalem Pogrom 269 



and a few hours afterwards there was a steady- 
evacuation of battered Jews. There was no 
military present. 

The following day the trouble started again, and 
a lot more were injured, and the third morning 
there was more looting and more casualties, and 
then at last the military took strong steps and the 
trouble was at an end. 

Yours sincerely, 

(Signed) E.N. 

In less than half an hour from the beginning of the 
outbreak, two companies of the Self-Defence Corps 
marched to the Jaffa and Damascus Gates to assist in 
quelling the disturbance within the walls, but they found 
the gates closed to them and held by British troops. It 
is very significant that within a few minutes of the com- 
mencement of the pogrom, British troops held all the 
gates of the city, with explicit orders to allow no one in 
and no one out — not even helpless women, fleeing from 
the horrors that were being enacted in the Jewish 
quarter, unless they held special permits. 

For nearly three days the work of murder, rape, 
sacrilege, and pillage went on practically unchecked — all 
under British rule. There is only one word which 
fittingly describes the situation, and that is the Russian 
word "pogrom." It means a semi-lawful attack on 
Jews. The assailants believe that they may murder, 
rape, burn and loot to their hearts' content, with the 
silent blessing of the authorities, and it is a very 



270 With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign 

significant fact that all through this Jerusalem 
pogrom the hooligans' cry was "El dowleh ma ana," 
which means " The Governynent is with us." The 
attackers were absolutely convinced of the truth of their 
battle cry. 

During these three terrible days several Jews were 
killed, hundreds were wounded (many of these being old 
men, women and children), rape was perpetrated, 
Synagogues were burnt, and tens of thousands of 
pounds worth of Jewish property was looted or 
destroyed. 

The pogrom was confined to that part of Jerusalem 
within the walls of the old City, where the Moslems 
greatly outnumber the Jews — in fact the latter are here 
a small and helpless minority. They take no part in 
politics, not even in political Zionism, but are absorbed 
in religious practices and observances, and abhor all 
things worldly. Even self-defence is repellent to them, 
and all forms of violence anathema. 

These harmless people dwell in half-a-dozen narrow 
tortuous streets and bazaars, in one corner of the old 
City. This Jewish quarter is quite easy to defend. A 
few armed men posted at the narrow entrances could 
hold any mob at bay. Why did not the military authori- 
ties see that this was done ? It was not until the third 
day that effective action was taken. In the meantime, 
hell was let loose on these unfortunate people. Even 
the wretched few who got to the City gates, unless they 
possessed special permits, were refused permission to 
escape and were forced to return to the devilries being 
enacted by the murdering, raping, looting mob. 



The Jerusalem Pogrom 271 

It is a black page in our history, and those responsible 
should not be allowed to escape just punishment. 

To cover their own blunders the local Administration 
looked round for a scapegoat, and arrested Jabotinsky 
and some score members of the Jewish Self-Defence 
Corps. 

Jabotinsky was tried on a ridiculous charge of 
** banditisrn, instigating the people of the Ottoman 
Empire to mutual hatred, pillage, rapine, devastation of 
the country, and homicide in divers places" — in fact 
the Ottoman penal code was ransacked to trump up 
these absurd charges against him. Jabotinsky had been 
guilty of nothing except that he had organised the Self- 
Defence Corps with the full knowledge of the authorities, 
many weeks before the outbreak, and it was owing to the 
existence of this Corps that the pogrom did not take 
much more serious dimensions. By far the greater 
part of the Jews, and practically all the Zionist Jews, 
dwell outside the old City in the modern part of 
Jerusalem, and it would naturally be upon these that 
the mob would have fallen, but not a Jewish house 
outside the City walls was raided, for the simple 
reason that the Jewish Self-Defence Corps was there 
and ready to act. 

The Self-Defence Corps did nothing whatever 
against the British Authorities, and many members of it 
were in fact used by the Administration to police the 
environs of the City. Nevertheless, a British Military 
Court, which publicly stated that it would be bound by 
no rules of procedure, was found, which convicted 
Jabotinsky, and inflicted upon him the savagely vindic- 



272 With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign 

tive sentence of FIFTEEN YEARS' PENAL 
SERVITUDE! 

This trumping up of the preposterous charges men- 
tioned is a disgrace to British Justice, and the whole 
history of this atrocious outrage is a foul stain on our 
fair fame. 

It may be noted in passing that two Arabs caught 
raping Jewish girls during the pogrom received the same 
sentence as Jabotinsky, whose only crime was that he 
was a Jew. 

Jabotinsky was cast into prison, clothed in prison garb, 
had his hair cropped, and was marched in company with 
the two Arabs convicted of rape through Jerusalem and 
Kantara, places where he was well known as a British 
officer. Even the worst Hun that we have read of could 
hardly have exceeded the savagery and tyranny shown 
by the Military Authorities of the E.E.F. towards 
Jabotinsky, an officer who fought stoutly for us and 
helped England and her cause in every possible way to 
the full extent of his power during the War. 



Of course a storm of public indignation was aroused. 
In fact one of our leading Statesmen, on seeing the 
telegram announcing the barbarous sentence, was heard 
to remark : — 

" The Military in Palestine must have gone mad." 
The matter was raised in the House of Commons, and 
Mr. Churchill, who was then Secretary of State for 
War, was called upon to make a statement. The War 
Office took action and, in a very short time, the sentence 
was annulled. 



The Jerusalem Pogrom 273 

It apparently required this outrage to open the eyes 
of the Home Government to what was going on in 
Palestine. As soon as they realised the situation, 
matters began to move in the right direction, and one of 
the first steps taken was the removal of the Military 
Administration which had failed so hopelessly to carry 
out the policy of the Imperial Government. 



CHAPTER XXXVI. 

The Dawn. 

WHILE Jerusalem was yet plunged in sorrow and 
filled with lamentation, the glad tidings arrived 
from San Remo that the Allied Council had endorsed 
England's promise of a National Home for the Jews in 
Palestine, and that Great Britain had been appointed 
the Mandatory Power. 

England, to emphasize her determination to deal 
justly with Israel, wisely decided that the ruler of Pales- 
tine should be a Jew, and appointed Sir Herbert Samuel 
as first High Commissioner of the Holy Land. 

When the great roll-call is made of those who have 
helped in bringing about the Restoration, the name of 
Baron Edmund de Rothschild will take a high and 
honourable place. His boundless munificence to the 
Zionist cause and to the Zionist Colonists in Palestine 
has helped the movement enormously, 

Palestine will loom larger and larger in world import- 
ance as the years roll by. iWe have seen that it is the 
very keystone of our policy in the Near and Far East, 
and when it is colonized by a friendly people working 
hand in hand with England then the vexed question of 

our interests in those regions will be solved, 

274 



The Dawn 275 

There is plenty of room in Palestine for both Jew and 
Arab, and, in fact, one is the complement of the other. 
At present there are about 650,000 Arabs in the country, 
but when Palestine is watered and tilled and made a 
fruitful country once again, it will support a population of 
five or six millions of people. 

Not only would the Jews not injure the Arabs, but, 
on the contrary, Jewish colonization and Jewish enter- 
prise will prove extremely beneficial to all the dwellers 
in Palestine. 

The Jewish immigrants now going into the country 
are full of boundless enthusiasm, ready to work and give 
even life itself to bring about the reconstruction of their 
ancient Homeland. 

With Jewish brains, Jewish labour, and Jewish 
capital, Palestine will be made to flourish like the pro- 
verbial green bay tree. The land will be irrigated and 
afforested ; water power will be ' ' harnessed ' ' and made 
to supply light and heat. Trade of all sorts will spring 
up, fresh markets for goods will be opened, the wonder- 
ful natural harbour of Haifa will be improved — and all 
of this will naturally bring increased wealth and comfort 
to the Arab as well as to the Jew. 

Even at the present moment the Jewish colonies are a 
joy to behold, and the land in their immediate neighbour- 
hood has gone up in value threefold. 

For many years the Jew and the Arab have worked 
together without the slightest friction, and I see no 
reason for any in the future. There will be no trouble 
whatever in Palestine between these two peoples 
when the country is properly governed, and the local 



276 With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign 

officials loyally carry out the policy of the Imperial 
Government. 

With an efficient straightforward Administration, 
holding the scales of Justice evenly, and working in co- 
operation with Jew and Arab, the dawn of a new and 
prosperous era for the Holy Land is assured, and Israel's 
age-long aspirations will at last be fulfilled. 

Britain's share towards the fulfilment of prophecy 
must, however, not be forgotten, and the names of Mr. 
Lloyd George and Sir Arthur Balfour, two men who 
were raised up to deal justly with Israel, will, I feel sure, 
live for all time in the hearts and affections of the Jewish 
people. It is owing to the stimulus given by the Balfour 
Declaration to the soul of Jewry throughout the world 
that we are now looking upon the wonderful spectacle 
unfolding itself before our eyes, of the people of Israel 
returning to the Land promised to Abraham and his seed 
for ever. 

In the ages to come it will always redound to the glory 
of England that it was through her instrumentality that 
the Jewish people were enabled to return and establish 
their National Home in the Promised Land. 

" Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in 
the morning. ' * 



APPENDIX I. 



HONOURS LIST. 



Distinguished Service Order 
Military Cross .... 
Military Cross with Bar 
Military Cross .... 
Military Cross with Bar 
Military Cross with Bar 
Distinguished Conduct Medal 
Military Medal 
Military Medal 
Military Medal 
Military Medal 
Military Medal 
Military Medal 
Mentioned in Despatches 
Mentioned in Despatches 
Mentioned in Despatches 
Mentioned in Despatches 

Mentioned in Despatches 

Mentioned in Despatches 

Mentioned in Despatches 

Mentioned in Despatches 



Major E. Neill. 
Capt. D. G. Leadley. 
Capt. T. B. Brown. 
Second Lieut. T. H, Fligelstone 
Second Lieut. J. Cameron. 
Second Lieut. A. B. Bullock. 
Company Sergt.-Major Plant. 
Corp. M. Bloom. 
Lance-Corp. M. ELFMAN. 
Private J. Sapieshvili. 
Private J. GORDON. 
Private J. Angel. 
Private A. J. ROBINSON. 
Major R. Ripley. 
Capt. G. Cunningham. 
Lieut. Simon Abrahams. 
Company Sergt.-Major P. 

Tennens. (Died on Service.) 
Company Sergt.-Major C. Black. 
Corp. W. Benjamin. 
Private J. Blumenthal. 
Private N. Karstadt. 



CASUALTY LIST. 



Killed. 



Lieut. B. Wolffe. 
Sergt. B. Levy. 
Sergt. C. Levy. 



Private S. Mildemer. 
Private S. Grayman. 
Private R. Marks. 



Died from Wounds or Disease. 



Company Sergt.-Major I 

Tennens. 
Lance-Corp. A. Lloyd. 
Lance-Corp. H. STRONG. 
Private B. BRICK. 



Private C. Serember. 
Private G. Redlikh. 
Private S. HART. 
Private L. Black. 
Private I. GOLDRICH. 



277 



278 



Appendix 



Private J. 
Private P. 
Private S. 
Private S. 



Private M. Deitz. 
Private W. Weinberg 
Private J. Berman, 
Private N. Freeman. 



Died from Wounds or Disease {continued) 

Private H. Canter. 
Private J. Levy. 
Private N. Alick. 
Private M. Bienstock. 
Private M. Bloomenthal. 
Private L. Allonowitz. 
Private M. Freiner. 
Private M. Galinsky. 
Private J. Shaft. 



Malkin, 
soborinsky. 
Abrahamson. 
Rosenberg. 



Wounded. 



Capt. A. W. Julian^ M.C. 
Lieut. H. B. Cross. 



Private A. J. Robinson. 
Private P. Lefcovitch. 



Appendix 279 

APPENDIX II. 

Care and Comforts Committee^ 38TH-42ND Royal Fusiliers^ 

KNOWN ALSO AS THE JEWISH REGIMENT AND THE JUD^ANS. 

Civil Executive Committee. 

The Rt. Hon. Lord Rothschild^ President. 

Mr. M. J. Landa^ Hon. Sec. 

Mrs. J. H. Hertz. 

Mrs. Ch. Weizmann. 

J. D. KlLEY^ Esq., M.P. 

Sir Adolph Tuck^ Bart. 

E. N. Adler^ Esq. 

Joseph Cowen^ Esq. 

Dr. M. D. Eder. 

J. Ettinger^ Esq. 

Leopold Frank^ Esq. 

L. J. GreenberGj Esq. 

M. Kaye^ Esq. 

Dr. Goodman Levy. 

Lionel D. Walford^ Esq. 

Henry Wolff, Esq. 



Hon. Members. 



Lieut-CoL J. H. PATTERSON^ Major W. Schonfield. 

D-S.O. Major Rev. S. Lipson, C.F. 

Lieut.-CoL F. D. Samuel^ D.S.O. Lieut. W. A. (Langhorne. 
Lieut.-CoL E. L. Margolin^ Lieut. V. Jabotinsky. 

D.S.O. Lieut. S. LiPSEY. 

Sergt. Joseph L. Cohen. 



Care and Comforts Committee. 

Mrs. J. H. HertZj Chairman. 

Mr. Henry Wolff^ Hon. Sec. 

Mrs. M. Epstein^ Chairman, Comforts Committee. 

Mrs. Paul Goodman^ Chairman, Canteen Committee. 

M. J. Landa, Esq., Chairman, Literature Committee. 

Mrs. E. L. RowsoN, Chairman, Dependents Committee. 

Mrs. Henry Wolff, Chairman, Hospitality Committee. 

Miss Francesca Woolf^ Chairman, Entertainments Committee. 

M. Wallach^ Esq. 



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